Towards culturally competent health care: Language use of bilingual staff

Abstract

The presence of diverse language skills within health staff provides opportunitiesto better meet the needs of a multicultural population. A cross-sectional survey ofall staff within the South Western Sydney Area Health Service was undertaken tocompare language skills with population needs and examine the context of languageuse. Thirty-one per cent of staff (n = 964) were bilingual or multilingual, with the predominant languages spoken being Tagalog (Filipino), Cantonese, Hindi, Spanish, Vietnamese and Italian. Thirty-seven per cent of bilingual staff used theirlanguage skills at least weekly, predominantly in situations of simple conversation and giving directions. Bilingual staff are a valuable resource for the organisation and the presence of a similar overall proportion of bilingual and bicultural staff may engender tolerance and adaptability in providing care to a diverse population. However, supply does not directly match community demand. This mismatch will continue unless recruitment is focused towards identified language groups. The high proportion of staff who rarely used their language skills (37%) may be due to lack of opportunity or limited need, and suggests that further research needs to examineservice models that locate bilingual workers close to client need. This study takesa crucial first step towards realising equitable and culturally appropriate careutilising the principles of productive diversity.