To help patients who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, or who have limited English proficiency, Yale-New Haven Hospital will deploy several dozen touch-screen units to offer on-demand video remote interpreting services.

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With a combination of  stationary and mobile touch-screens, hospital staff will be able to access interpretive services from Stratus – which touts its ability to connect with interpreters in more than 175 spoken and signed languages in less than 30 seconds.

Yale-New Haven Hospital is deploying 18 large carts with 23-inch, three-in-one touch screens, which will be stationed in emergency departments, transplant centers, operating suites and other designated locations, officials say.

These stationary units will be supplemented by 30 mobile units consisting of iPads mounted on poles – which can be easily wheeled around the facilities to provide access to certified healthcare interpreters – designated for use in Smilow Cancer Hospital infusion centers, labor and birth suites, physical therapy centers and other areas.

"As the first hospital in the state of Connecticut to deploy Stratus Video’s on-demand medical interpretation services across multiple departments and campuses, we are committed to serving  the needs of patients who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or of limited English proficiency,” said Maureen Rosselli, who is the deaf and hard of hearing services coordinator for YNHH, in a press statement.

She points out that YNHH built its own carts with extra-large touch screens to ensure the monitor was large enough to facilitate communication clearly, since some patients also have visual limitations.

Currently, the hospital’s most commonly requested languages are Spanish, Arabic and ASL interpretation.