First Name:
Emily
Last Name:
LeRoy
Major Department:
Spanish
Thesis Director:
Andres Fisher
Date of Thesis:
May 2009
There are many problems regarding the health care of the Hispanic population throughout the United States, particularly due to the language barrier that exists between Spanish-speaking patients and their physicians. The following paper explains the current trends of growth of the Hispanic population within the United States, the state of North Carolina, and Watauga County. General obstacles dealing with the language barrier in the medical field are presented, along with previously obtained research that covers medical interpretation issues and developments. Local community research from Watauga County is presented concerning the overall access to health care of Spanish-speakers in the area, as well as problems that have arisen due to the communication barrier. It was found that although there are currently programs in place to help, there is still much to be done for improvement in the area of access to medical care, particularly in regards to the language barrier, for the Hispanic population in Watauga County.