Making healthcare more accessible with VidaTalk

Whether planned or unplanned, entering the hospital is a process most wish to avoid. What happens if you are traveling? Or have a language barrier? What is you lose the ability to speak or have a hearing impairment?

With the adoption of Apple technologies and Jamf, healthcare systems are now looking to software companies to help them overcome communication barriers. By simplifying the means to connect with an interpreter or by giving patients technology that helps them communicate, patients and healthcare providers can reap the benefits of more equitable care.

Redefining language access with VidaTalk

VidaTalk delivers a platform- and device-agnostic way for healthcare organizations to instantaneously provide speech and language access to every individual with a speech or language barrier who enters the organization. This includes every patient, every staff member, every visitor.

The VidaTalk app helps patients with speech, hearing and language barriers communicate by offering:

• A touchscreen menu with common phrases related to how the patient feels and what they desire
• Text or speech translation
• The ability to draw or type
• Video or audio connection to an interpreter
• Over 40 available languages

At VidaTalk, we know that adopting equitable access and care can be nuanced and difficult and requires change to the status quo. There are points throughout the entire patient care delivery process that reflect inequitable practices that have been normalized, so they aren’t always obvious. This is because the necessary technology has simply not been available to practice differently. But because VidaTalk can be implemented at every digital access point — including patient- and provider-owned devices, we help hospitals make equitable care the default.

It comes down to accessibility and who has control of access. For those without control of the speech and language access they need, their experience is silenced until someone comes along and gives them the opportunity to speak. That’s not health equity. That’s privileged access.

The benefits of VidaTalk

Why add one more app to the app stack? What if we already have a care communication tool?

• Patients with communication impairments are 3x more likely to experience adverse events.
• Poor communication has been linked to longer hospital stays, increased patient harm and higher resource utilization.
• The inability of patients to express themselves and be understood leads to heightened anxiety, missed diagnosis, delayed treatment and increased morbidity.
• The VidaTalk app offers an intuitive interface and empathetic design that enables sensitive responses and allows patients to articulate their needs and emotions.
• VidaTalk may integrate with your existing tools to better improve health equity.

VidaTalk redefines speech and language access by putting it into the hands of the patient. Patients don’t have to wait for a provider to determine if they have the time, if the encounter warrants assistive communication or if they need an interpreter. Patients can even use their own device.

VidaTalk envisions a future where every patient with a communication impairment can connect deeply with their healthcare providers. We see a world where individual experiences and emotions are incorporated into patient care and navigated sensitively, ensuring patients clearly express their needs and emotions. By fostering compassionate understanding and support, VidaTalk transcends speech and language barriers.

Learn more at VidaTalk.com.

Implementing VidaTalk with Jamf

With Jamf, health systems can deploy the application via Self Service or to any device that is supporting care. No longer does the team need to search for the translation services cart; the app is ready and available whenever needed to bolster communication, patient status and much more.