A simple communication tool invented by the Buddhist Tzu-chi General Hospital in Hualien has helped Aboriginal patients, many of whom do not speak Mandarin, to communicate more effectively with hospital staff.
The innovation was highlighted at the annual Taiwan Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care yesterday in Taipei.
Staff in the hospital's intensive care unit merged graphics and phrases in a romanized form of the Amis and Truku aboriginal tribal languages on cards to facilitate communication between staff and patients.
According to deputy head nurse of the unit Chin Hsueh-chen(金雪珍 ), about half of the patients at the hospital are Aboriginal, with Amis and Truku forming the majority.
Most have difficulty communicating with hospital staff due to the language barrier, she said, adding that only two out of thirty nurses in the unit speak the tribes' languages.
To resolve the situation, Chin said a questionnaire was issued to patients' family and medical staff who speak the languages to collect a list of useful words. Once this had been done hospital staff, patients' families and priests from nearby churches helped to transcribe the words into romanized versions.
The vocabulary includes words related to patients' physical needs such as drinking water and medical treatments such as injections.
In addition to language teaching sessions, staff have been required to memorize one word a day both in Amis and Truku, up to a total of 25. In order to help them learn the vocabulary, Chin said she even marked Zhuyin next to the words in daily e-mails to her fellow colleagues.
Chin said that the combination of graphics and words mean that patients and staff can communicate with each other more effectively.
The unit has been promoting the usage of the communication cards since Nov. 2004, she said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about