iPad-Based Translation Service for Culturally-Sensitive Care

IDG Goal: Goal 6 – Access to Interfaith Education and Religious Literacy

In hospitals across Canada, patients who speak languages other than English frequently face significant communication barriers that can lead to misdiagnosis, medication errors, and poor adherence to care plans. Recognising this gap firsthand as a physician, Dr Sukhmeet Sachal collaborated with a national language services team to launch an innovative iPad-based translation programme, allowing any doctor to instantly connect with a live interpreter via secure video chat whenever a language barrier arises. The service has reached over 500 patients of all backgrounds and faiths, fostering greater cultural sensitivity, trust in the healthcare system, and better health outcomes across the board. In one particularly striking example, the service enabled a Farsi-speaking patient to disclose they were experiencing domestic abuse and care provider burnout — information that led directly to the involvement of a social worker and psychiatry team. Delivered in partnership with MCIS Language Solutions and received positively across all participating hospitals, the initiative is a powerful demonstration of how bridging linguistic gaps can also bridge cultural and interfaith divides in some of the most critical moments of people’s lives.