Prsonas

In 2024, researchers reviewed 336 patient safety events in Pennsylvania hospitals where language barriers were a documented factor. In 82% of those cases, there was an interpretation challenge. In more than half, a certified interpreter wasn't available.

Not because the hospital didn't have a policy, or because nobody asked. Because no one was there.

There are roughly four unfilled interpreter positions in the US for every one employed. That is not a gap you close by hiring faster. It is a structural problem that requires a structural solution, one that doesn't depend on whether the right person happens to be working that shift.
The patients in those 336 reports experienced longer stays, delayed diagnoses, and medication errors as a result of something that, in many cases, was entirely preventable.

The full report is worth sitting with:

The Impact of Language Barriers on Patient Safety in Pennsylvania: A Review of 336 Patient Safety Events | Published in PATIENT SAFETY By Christine E. Sanchez. In Pennsylvania, over half a million residents have limited English proficiency. Language barriers can pose a risk to patient safety. We aimed to investigate how language barriers impact healthcare facilities...

There are 7,000+ languages in the world. Most organizations are covered for maybe a handful of them, on a good day, during business hours, assuming the right person is in.

What does it actually look like when that gap closes? A hospital that never has to tell a patient "we don't have anyone who speaks that right now." An airport desk that still works at 2am for the passenger who just landed and has absolutely no idea where they are going. A government office where you don't have to bring your own translator to access a service that exists for you.

The PRSONAS digital workforce speaks virtually any language. No shift changes. No gaps on a Tuesday night. No moment where the person asking for help is made to feel like a problem to be managed.

Only 28% of employees know how to use their company's AI applications.

The average enterprise is running about 200 AI tools. And according to Deloitte, 74% of organizations still struggle to translate AI investments into meaningful business outcomes.

So to summarize: companies are buying more AI than ever, deploying it across more functions than ever, and two-thirds of their employees either can't use it or won't.

The organizations winning at AI right now are not the ones with the most tools. They are the ones who asked a deceptively simple question before deploying anything: will people actually want to use this?

That question changes everything about how you build.

The State of Digital Adoption 2025 WalkMe - Digital Adoption Platform Discover the state of digital adoption in 2025 and how enterprise AI integration is shaping the future of work. Insights from 3,700+ global leaders and employees.

Oliver and Amy are two of our most loved avatars.

They are also pediatric-specific, which means they were designed with an understanding that a seven-year-old navigating a hospital or a clinical process has entirely different needs than an adult. The tone, the pacing, the visual design, the personality, all of it was built for a child's experience, not adapted from an adult one.

Who the technology is actually for should determine how it is built from the beginning.

We built for the kids first.

Miscommunication costs U.S. businesses an estimated $1.2 trillion every year. Per employee, that works out to roughly $9,284 annually. And according to Grammarly's 2024 State of Business Communication report, 100% of knowledge workers experience it at least weekly. Not most. All of them.

Most of that conversation focuses on internal communication, teams talking past each other, misaligned expectations, and unclear instructions. Valid problems. But there is a version that is even more immediate and even more preventable: the moment your organization meets the people it exists to serve.

The patient who cannot communicate with the intake staff. The visitor who cannot find where they are going. The employee who makes uninformed benefits decisions because the explanation did not land.

These are not email problems. They are access problems. And the report makes a compelling case that the organizations treating communication as operational infrastructure, not a soft skill, not a personality trait, are outpacing the ones that aren't.

There is a lot worth reading in this one:

The 2024 State of Business Communication Report This year promises to bring about transformational benefits in the way we communicate and the way we work—for those who seize the opportunity. While some businesses have experimented with generative AI, few have unlocked its full potential.

135 children avoided sedation.

Let that sit for a moment, not because it's a statistic, but because each one of those 135 represents a kid who walked into AdventHealth Celebration for an MRI and walked out without the added weight of a sedation procedure. And 270 parents who got to skip that particular flavor of stress.
The culprit behind this happy outcome? Buddy the Bear -- a pediatric AI avatar designed to make the MRI experience feel a little less like science fiction and a little more like something a seven-year-old could actually handle. Over three years, Buddy helped reduce pediatric sedation rates by 4.5%.

The hospital saved $842 per MRI and $113,000 in total.
Turns out that when you design technology specifically for the humans who are going to use it -- in this case, children who are scared -- it works rather well.
Full story here:

Reducing Pediatric Sedation Through Innovation and Compassion By implementing Buddy the Bear and a tailored digital concierge system, the hospital achieved a 4.5% reduction in pediatric sedation rates over three years. This translated to 135 children avoiding sedation, 270 parents spared the stress of sedation for their child, and considerable cost savings—$...

Here is a number that should bother everyone in healthcare: 34% of patients with limited English proficiency say language barriers made it hard to fill out forms for their provider.

33% struggled to communicate with medical office staff.

30% couldn't fully understand their doctor's instructions.

These aren't edge cases. There are 29.6 million people in the U.S. with limited English proficiency, and a significant chunk of them are navigating one of the most complex, high-stakes systems in existence -- healthcare -- with one hand tied behind their back.
The good news is that when patients receive care in their own language, outcomes measurably improve. Less confusion. Better adherence. Fewer errors. Fewer of those deeply avoidable moments where someone leaves a hospital more lost than when they arrived.

Language should never be the reason someone doesn't understand what's happening to them.

Full report worth reading:

Language Barriers in Health Care: Findings from the KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health | KFF In the U.S., 26 million people have limited English proficiency, representing about 8% of people ages 5 and older. Those with limited English proficiency report worse overall health status than those who are English proficient, but data suggests that having access to providers who speak their prefer...

Workers Credit Union serves over 110,000 members across Massachusetts and needed to keep that experience personal, private, and accessible in multiple languages without burning out their team.

So they brought in Olivia. A PRSONAS™ AI avatar concierge took over greetings, appointment check-in and scheduling, and member questions in six languages, including ASL, across three branches. Their financial coaches got back to doing what they did best: helping real people build better financial lives.

The results spoke for themselves. Workers Credit Union took home a 2021 CUNA Diamond Award for Innovation. Read the full story here:

https://bit.ly/4dkj9sY

Efficiency starts at check-in. Long wait times remain one of the most common frustrations for customers and patients, yet many organizations are now addressing this challenge through digital check‑in processes.
Studies indicate that these tools can cut wait times by up to 42%, creating smoother workflows for staff and more predictable timelines for anyone arriving for an appointment or service.
It’s a clear example of how technology, when applied thoughtfully, can have an immediate and meaningful impact on overall satisfaction.

Chatbots answer questions. But do they connect?

We're talking about fewer errors, greater trust, and users who actually want to engage.rmth, clarity, and natural flow of human communication into digital spaces.

We're talking fewer errors, greater trust, and users who actually want to engage.

We just published a new blog post breaking it all down: https://bit.ly/41q5MQx