Language Services in Hospitals: Discordance in Availability and Staff Use‪.‬

INTRODUCTION Effective patient-provider communication is fundamental to safe, high-quality, patient-centered healthcare. Among the factors that can affect communication are language, culture, and health literacy. As the cultural and linguistic diversity of the United States continues to expand, it is increasingly important that healthcare providers have tools and resources in place to effectively communicate with their culturally and linguistically diverse patients (Hasnain-Wynia et al. 2006).