DULUTH, MN – From the newly arrived immigrant trying to decipher a doctor’s prescription to a paramedic trying to help an injured tourist, it’s clear that the language of healthcare isn’t English-only. And in many cases, there isn’t time to find an interpreter.

 

GeaCom is working to bridge that communications barrier with the Phrazer, a handheld touchscreen device that’s designed to help both caregivers and patients overcome barriers in language, culture and literacy to exchange critical information. Incorporated with AirPrime wireless technology from Sierra Wireless, the Phrazer can be deployed anywhere to manage healthcare conversations and capture critical information in an electronic health record.

 

Healthcare providers “need to have data at their fingertips immediately, and that’s not always possible when there are gaps in communication,” said Michelle Laurion, global sales and marketing manager for Duluth, Minn.-based GeaCom, which expects to launch the Phrazer later this year. “The emphasis has to be on accuracy.”

 

In healthcare, that accuracy can’t be overlooked. According to a 2003 study, an average of 31 interpreter errors occur per encounter with patients with a limited command of English. Of those errors, the study found, 63 percent result in clinical consequences.

 

Currently equipped with 10 languages (it can hold hundreds), the Phrazer is designed to allow patients to answer a series of standard triage questions presented via video and in their own language, capturing medical history, symptoms and complaints in electronic format for the patient’s and caregiver’s electronic health records.

 

Chris Butler, GeaCom’s chief operating officer, said the Phrazer goes far beyond translating. It replaces the not-always-accurate friend or family member, allows physicians to concentrate on other, more important tasks while the data-gathering process is completed, even helps patients better understand complex medical situations.

 

“Sometimes my doctor and I don’t always speak the same language,” he said. “There’s a place for the Phrazer in that conversation. Also, in a crowded ER.”

 

One of the Phrazer’s more valuable facets is its mobility. GeaCom’s partnership with Vancouver-based Sierra Wireless will enable the company to market the device as a mobile tool.

 

“We saw a clear match (in the Phrazer) and a need to work together and bring this product to life,” said Didier Dutronc, Sierra’s senior vice president of M2M embedded solutions. “We can imagine much more usage for this in the future. The road will be broad.”

 

In January, GeaCom tested the Phrazer with a focus group of Somali residents living in Minneapolis. According to Butler, it was used in a refugee camp in Cameroon last year, and was taken by Mayo Clinic medical students and physicians to Honduras this past February in a weeklong rural healthcare program administered by Global Brigades, a student-led global health and sustainable development organization.

 

According to GeaCom, rural residents visiting a Global Brigades clinic used the Phrazer to answer questions posed in Spanish. The answers were translated to English for the Mayo Clinic students, many of whom had a limited command of Spanish. In addition, the Phrazer was used by more than 50 children to view videos on common and preventable illnesses.

 

“The Phrazer caregiver summary served as a useful tool for me to compare the information that I was getting from the patient with what she had reported to the triage station as her reason for arriving in the clinic,” said Megan Chock, a Mayo Medical School student.

 

“It was a great opportunity for Global Brigades to be a part of piloting Phrazer,” added Brittany Estok, the Medical Brigades coordinator in Honduras. “This device has great potential for the future in helping healthcare professionals obtain accurate information where language poses a barrier to communicating with patients.”