Interpreters are necessary for providing quality care to patients. Individuals with limited proficiency in English and people that have hearing or speech impairments may have trouble communicating their condition to health providers. Conversely, providers may not be able to explain complex topics to patients. This discrepancy in communication imminently leads to deteriorated quality of care. Interpreters exist to aid collaboration and information exchange between providers and patients.
Despite evident benefits, working with interpreters has several implications to consider. For instance, in the majority of circumstances, translating leads to the loss of information. Sleptsova et al. (2017) conducted research intending to attain quantitative data on the number of details that are lost during interpretation. More than 30% of original content is not communicated from provider to patient and vice versa (Sleptsova et al., 2017). These results suggest that, while employing interpreters leads to improved quality of care, in certain circumstances, vital information could be omitted. Consequences could be drastic if critical data fails to be delivered to patients or providers. Another significant implication is that interpreters and providers have varying degrees of expertise, which makes them focus on different aspects of the given information and interpret it in a corresponding manner (Srivastava, 2006). Providers should raise their awareness of interpreters’ qualifications and modify vocabulary accordingly when speaking to them. Health providers need to set different speech conventions based on interpreter experience. They should encourage interpreters to use first-person when translating patients’ sentences. For instance, if a patient says, “I have back pain,” an interpreter should not construct a reported speech.
Collaboration between health providers and interpreters has allowed patients to receive care of elevated quality. However, both of them need to be aware of the implications when working together. Loss of information is commonplace, and differing expertise may pose an obstacle to an effective alliance. Providers need to train to work with interpreters to solve the mentioned challenges and improve the efficacy of the partnership.
References
Sleptsova, M., Weber, H., Schöpf, A. C., Nübling, M., Morina, N., Hofer, G., & Langewitz, W. (2017). Using interpreters in medical consultations: What is said and what is translated – A descriptive analysis using RIAS. Patient Education and Counseling, 100(9), 1667-1671.
Srivastava, R. H. (2006). The healthcare professional’s guide to clinical cultural competence. Mosby Canada.