Jacqueline Armstrong had a patient that was unable to understand English but could read Chinese. The family was unable to meet her one night when the patient was restless and she could not figure out what was wrong. She called the son at home and asked him to speak with the patient and she was informed that the patient was hard of hearing and would not be able to hear him over the phone.

Out of her own frustration of wanting to communicate with this patient, she did a Google search on her cell phone for a translation application and found Google Translate. This application would translate her yes/no questions to the patient in Chinese writing so she could figure out what the problem was. She used this translating application for the next few nights taking care of this patient (letting him know what she was going to do, i.e., turn, suction, giving medication, etc.). She found that by using this application to communicate with him, the patient was more at ease and cooperative with his care. His daughter was also relieved that Jacqueline had found a way to communicate with him.

Jacqueline was thinking that most of the staff have some sort of Phone, Smart phone, IPad, etc. that would be able to access this application easily, as well as the WOW’s and the internet TVs if they were aware of this particular program being available. This translating application will also speak the translation in the language that is needed. She knows that the WOWs do not have a soundcard to do the audio but she was unsure if the internet TVs would be able to do the same thing. She has shared her discovery with other staff as well, but would like all staff to know this is available for their foreign language patients.