Sumo Medial Staffing

Hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country increasingly need to serve diverse patient populations: nearly 68 million people spoke a language other than English in 2019. Many of those have a language other than English as their primary language. 

Multilingual locum tenens pros can be a versatile solution for hospitals that offers many additional benefits. Here are a few: 

Testing new language services

If your facility is considering a new language-specific healthcare offering/program but you’re not sure about its viability, a multilingual locum tenens can help you gauge demand. 

Let’s say you live in an area with a large Korean population. Bring in a Korean-speaking physician for a three-month trial. Track patient engagement, as well as requests for appointments and feedback. Such data will help you make an informed decision about investing in Korean bilingual services. 

Another example: a Spanish-speaking NP can help you decide if Spanish-language diabetes education classes is a good idea in your community. The NP’s insights on patient interest/need and cultural nuances could help you ascertain if developing such a program would benefit them as well as your hospital. 

Such temporary locum roles let you pivot quickly if needed, without having to commit to full-time hires. 

Improving staff language skills

Multilingual locums can do more than communicate with patients: they’re also great resources for permanent staff. 

Team members could learn key phrases in other languages if you set up informal language exchange opportunities with locums during set times during the day. Have you ever thought of holding “medical Spanish” sessions, for example? 

Developing culturally appropriate materials

Bi-lingual/multi-lingual locums pros offer much more than language skills: they also can provide invaluable cultural insights. 

A Spanish-speaking locum prenatal nurse could find culturally insensitive wording and/or suggest more relatable phrases and explanations for your local Hispanic community. 

A locum dietitian fluent in Tagalog could create diabetes management materials that incorporate familiar Polynesian foods and recipes.  

Getting the most value from multilingual locums

To use locums fluent in other languages to the best advantage for you and your patients: 

• Talk to them about the language service goals you’d like them to meet during the hiring process. 

• Give them opportunities to share knowledge with your non-bilingual permanent staff. 

• Ask for advice/input on your existing processes/multilingual materials. 

• Use them to promote your facility’s expanded language capabilities to your community. 

• Gather detailed feedback from patients who interact with the multilingual locums. 

Learn more about how SUMO Staffing can help you strategically use multilingual locum pro, to test new healthcare services, enhance your staff’s language skills and create a much more inclusive patient experience.