Bridging the Language Barrier

BYU campus might be home to Maggie now, but her old home isn’t too far away. From Orem, Utah, Maggie Scribner is a fan of nonfiction books, being outside, and volleyball. Even though she was only on an official team for four years, volleyball features in family reunions, family girls’ teams that her mom organizes, and more. Maggie also got married in June. She and her husband have run triathlons and a marathon together—although “only one” so far, she says.

Volleyball isn’t the only way Maggie’s mom has played a part in her interests. She also recommended the Honors program at BYU. Maggie was a fan of being able to knock out two GE requirements—especially when she took an Unexpected Connections course combining literature and biology. She took the class before 2020, but ironically, the theme was pandemics! The class ran through a simulation to contain an imaginary pandemic raging on BYU campus. When COVID-19 hit a couple of years later, Maggie and her classmates felt some déjà vu. As a public health major, these experiences took on additional import.

Ever since coming to BYU, Maggie’s plan has been to attend PA school. The Public Health major was a somewhat luck-of-the-draw choice based on PA school pre-requisites, but Maggie fell in love. “I feel like it gives me a really holistic view of medicine, understanding that people are affected not just by their behaviors and their genetics, but also by their social context.”

“Public health classes teach us a lot,” and Maggie thinks it would be a good idea for everyone to take one. She wishes everyone knew how important prevention is to a heathy life. Public health has also opened her eyes to see people’s health problems with compassion and realize that we can do something to help. Health is “more about your zip code than your genetic code,” she said, a popular catchphrase among public health specialists.

Maggie works in the ER at Utah Valley -- “it’s a crazy pace. I was up until 5am today, so it keeps me on my toes!” She enjoys getting to see the variety of medicine, people, and experiences. In fact, Maggie’s Pre-PA clinical experience led her to discover her thesis topic. As she worked with patients, Maggie had noticed a lot of barriers faced by native Spanish speakers receiving healthcare. “Working in the emergency department it’s something I see all the time,” she said, and wanted to explore the problem. None of her professors were working on the topic she had in mind, so she decided to develop her own project. She decided on qualitative rather than quantitative research, so she teamed up with a qualitative professor in Public Health.

“We devised a project where we would interview both medical professionals and Spanish speakers so that we could attack the issue from both sides,” Maggie said. While her research partner, Stefany Diaz, has been meeting with Spanish speakers, Maggie has interviewed nurses and coworkers in the ER. “They really do care about providing quality healthcare for those who are marginalized and face this language barrier and cultural barriers,” she said. The problem is figuring out how.

Maggie noted the answers are complex. Her research is revealing that professional interpretation services improve many situations, “but they are wildly underutilized in the United States.” A key takeaway so far is that big hospitals and clinics need to invest much more into interpreters than they are right now. As the project continues, Maggie wants to find out when and why interpretation is running into problems, as well as when it’s most important to have in place.

Maggie has already made a surprising realization from her background research: “Some of the biggest communication issues come from health care professionals who are trying to communicate in Spanish, but they don’t speak Spanish fully…instead of using a certified interpreter.” This is a sticky situation; Spanish speakers have talked about how it’s a positive experience when professionals try to speak a little in their language, but when does it backfire? A big part of Maggie’s research will be to better define situations that need a professional interpreter, and when it works for the healthcare worker to try to navigate it on their own.

The language barrier isn’t a new problem. There are solutions and steps being taken, but they have a long way to go. Maggie’s research will open new channels of improvement as the public health field works to address the problem one step at a time. Maggie herself has been trying to learn Spanish for the last couple of years, taking classes and volunteering. “My personal struggle to learn a language has helped me build empathy for those who are trying to learn English, which is a much higher-stakes situation,” she told me.

Maggie is looking forward to the solutions she uncovers in her thesis research. Her advice sums up her education so far: “Find a field of study that you just love. If you’re not coming home and telling your roommates about what you learned that day,” she says, find that “fire!” She was thrilled to be accepted to PA school at the University of Utah. Maggie graduates in April, and after a few days in Costa Rica, will dive right into her new adventures in PA school.