Two nurses from the Intensive Care Unit and the Audiovisual Service have created a series of pictograms in fourteen languages.

Two nurses from the Intensive Care Unit at Son Espases have created a series of pictograms in fourteen languages to facilitate communication and understanding between foreign patients and healthcare staff.

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Fourteen languages are spoken in the Son Espases ICU

María del Carmen Barbado and Joaquina Delgado, supervisor and nurse in the ICU at Son Espases, have been the ideologists of this project, which they have carried out in collaboration with the Audiovisual Service and the Interpreter Service of the Hospital. They have also been advised by experts in the field and native speakers with advanced knowledge of each language.

Given the large number of foreign patients admitted to Son Espases and patients with verbal communication difficulties caused by some pathology, such as stroke, María del Carmen and Joaquina thought about the best way to overcome the language barrier and decided to create the pictograms, which have been translated into fourteen languages: Catalan, Spanish, English, German, Swedish, Arabic, Czech, Chinese, Slovak, French, Italian, Dutch, Romanian and Russian.

The idea is that they will not only be printed on paper, but will also be accessible from any computer in the hospital and that they will be available for consultation from any television in the patients’ hospital rooms.