While attending college at the University of Hartford, I earned a bachelor's degree in health sciences, a Master of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics (MSPO), and a minor in Spanish. I now work with Hanger Clinic in Salem, Oregon, as an O&P resident. My minor advisor and I combined our interests to co-develop a medical Spanish course, which is offered in the school's catalog. Designing this course for general healthcare led me to research language barriers in O&P and how they are overcome or may still need to be addressed. This interest drove me to establish an investigative study from my third year of undergraduate to the present. Certain O&P resources are available in Spanish, but they do not facilitate direct communication between clinician and patient. Current methods involve a clinician learning Spanish, hiring bilingual staff, scheduling an interpreter for the patient's appointment, or using electronic translators. While patients may rely on a friend or family member for translation at appointments, doing so for complex medical encounters can have its downfalls. Several O&P organizations offer translated intake and instructional forms, journal articles, and educational resources for patients to read for greater understanding, advocacy, and intervention options. Through the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists one can enroll in courses to learn Spanish terms that facilitate clinical communication. These resources have great merit and demonstrate efforts to uphold the legal rights of those with limited English proficiency. However, each method requires planning and costs time and money. I am conducting a two-part research investigation addressing clinical validity and cultural authenticity to develop a tangible bilingual resource to promote instantaneous communication in typical O&P clinical interactions. The completed first part assessed clinical terminology applicability and collected feedback on the tool's organizational layout, while the second part will interview Spanish-speaking O&P patients as a needs assessment to ensure cultural authenticity and user-friendliness. I anticipate recruiting this fall through winter, with interviews starting early 2022. The resource's intention is to allow clinicians who do not know the language communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. The tool would be best suited where an incongruency in preferred languages hinders communication aimed toward achieving optimum care. Furthermore, this may be useful when other resources, including interpreters, are unavailable due to scheduling demand or forms are lacking specifics on what the clinician needs to convey. Our nation's Latin American population and the necessity for O&P intervention are growing, and this study will yield information essential to broadening the scope of individuals that the field can serve. My ambitions are to spotlight the difficulties of language barriers in O&P, investigate the project's usefulness for clinical practice, and gain insightful cultural perspectives. Using the current resources in addition to the one I am in the process of producing, the patient and the clinician will be able to make sound, informed decisions in the best interests of the patient's health, mobility, and financial options regardless of language preference. I aspire to ultimately distribute the resource over a diverse platform. I hope this column raises awareness on the topic of bridging the Spanish communication barrier in our field and demonstrates how future resource applications can further address diversity inclusions through augmentation of one's O&P rehabilitation care. If you have questions on this topic, wish to see my references, or would like to be involved in my research, I look forward to hearing from you. <em>Alesha Heacock, MSPO, can be contacted at aheacock.oandp@gmail.com.</em>
