Kushalnagar Poorna, Paludneviciene Raylene, Kushalnagar Raja
Department of Psychology, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, United States.
Department of Science, Mathematics, and Technology, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, United States.
JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2019 Mar 11;6(1):e13233. doi: 10.2196/13233.
The advent of new rehabilitation and assistive technologies has led to the creation of video remote interpreting (VRI) as an accessible communication technology for deaf patients. Although there has been a rapid growth in the use of VRI technology by health care providers, there is scant published information on VRI users and their satisfaction. Current, timely data are needed to understand deaf patients' use and satisfaction with the quality of VRI technology in health care settings.
This study aimed to investigate the national trends of deaf patients' satisfaction with the quality of video remote interpreting (VRI) in health settings and recommend actions to improve VRI quality and deaf patients' satisfaction with VRI in health care settings.
Secondary data related to deaf adults' experiences of using VRI service in a medical setting were obtained from the Health Information National Trends Survey in American Sign Language, which was administered to a US sample of deaf adults between 2016 and 2018.
Among our VRI users (N=555, all in the United States) who answered questions about VRI usage in health between 2016 and 2018, only 41% were satisfied with the quality of the VRI technology service. Respondents with fewer years of education or those who were male were more likely to rate the VRI quality as acceptable. After adjusting for covariates in a binary regression analysis, deaf patients' self-reported interference (ie, VRI interpreter's interference with disclosure of health information) increased patient dissatisfaction with the quality of VRI technology service by three-fold.
To increase satisfaction with VRI technology service in health care and rehabilitation settings among deaf patients, special attention needs to be given to video technology, as the use of sign language requires high-fidelity video for optimal communication between the interpreter and patient. To promote the willingness to disclose medical information through VRI among deaf patients, the interpreter must be highly skilled in both expressive and receptive communication and have the requisite background in medicine and rehabilitation.
新的康复和辅助技术的出现促使视频远程口译（VRI）应运而生，成为一种可供聋人患者使用的通信技术。尽管医疗服务提供者对VRI技术的使用迅速增加，但关于VRI用户及其满意度的公开信息却很少。需要及时的当前数据来了解聋人患者在医疗环境中对VRI技术的使用情况及其对该技术质量的满意度。
本研究旨在调查聋人患者对医疗环境中视频远程口译（VRI）质量的满意度的全国趋势，并提出提高VRI质量以及聋人患者对医疗环境中VRI满意度的建议措施。
从《美国手语健康信息国家趋势调查》中获取了与成年聋人在医疗环境中使用VRI服务的经历相关的二手数据，该调查于2016年至2018年对美国成年聋人样本进行。
在2016年至2018年期间回答了有关医疗环境中VRI使用问题的VRI用户（N = 555，均在美国）中，只有41%对VRI技术服务的质量感到满意。受教育年限较少的受访者或男性受访者更有可能认为VRI质量可以接受。在二元回归分析中对协变量进行调整后，聋人患者自我报告的干扰（即VRI口译员对健康信息披露的干扰）使患者对VRI技术服务质量的不满增加了两倍。
为了提高聋人患者在医疗保健和康复环境中对VRI技术服务的满意度，需要特别关注视频技术，因为使用手语需要高保真视频才能实现口译员与患者之间的最佳沟通。为了促进聋人患者通过VRI披露医疗信息的意愿，口译员必须在表达性和接受性沟通方面都具备高超技能，并拥有医学和康复方面的必要背景知识。
