Relflection Paper on Interpreter as an Gatekeeper in Medical Discourse

Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants are receiving improper medical care because of the miscommunication. The people who cannot speak English well are misunderstood, when they go to free clinics or hospital emergency rooms and attempt to explain their symptoms and illness or cannot understand the doctors or medical profession that are trying to help them. ” Interpreters are omitting questions about drug allergies. Patients are not telling nurses the correct symptoms. A mother misunderstood by putting oral antibiotic into the ears of the child instead of the mouth. The Puerto Rican word for mumps is not the same in Central America, so a child was mistreated. A doctor mistakenly told a parent to put a steroid crème on entire child instead of just the face” (Yolanda Prtida, 2005). Language barriers in the medical field are dangerous and some times even fatal. There is definitely a need for more translators in hospitals and doctors office. Clear communication is essential for safe quality healthcare. Poor communication can lead to disastrous outcomes, especially for patients with limited or no English ability.

Language is one social and cultural barriers that may have made it difficult for the doctors to communicate with Jessica’s family. It creates the trust that exists between a patient and a doctor and their guardians. When using a translator, meanings may change and the desired communication result may not be achieved. The trust that should exist between the doctor and the patient and the guardians

We asked the following group the following five questions in which they all answer and we followed by a group discussion to improve our approach to offering our patients an interpreter service via phone/Marti or live interpreter. We focused on both positive and negative aspect on how we can achieve 100% compliance.

Jacobs, E. A., Shepard, D. S., Suaya, J. A., Stone, E. (2004). Overcoming language barriers in health care: costs and benefits of interpreter services. American Journal of Public Health, 94 (5), 866-869.

The staff person did not take the correct approach in trying to communicate with the patient. The staff person should have made an effort to obtain a trained interpreter to speak with the patient. If unable to do this, the staff person could have sought to find a staff member who spoke Spanish. However, after touching basis on what the patient is seeking care for, a trained interpreter should be obtained. It is not appropriate to use family members as interpreters since this can result in a breach of confidentiality and misunderstanding of information. The patient son is also a minor, which is another reason he should not be used as an interpreter. This situation was not an emergency that required immediate need of a translator, thus an appropriate interpreter would have been the best approach.

Insuring that the patient fully understands what is being done to them is of great importance. As patients, they have the right to understand what is being done and why. Informed consent must be given; the patient should be able to repeat what they have been informed of before the procedure is done. Currently “only 33 percent of U.S. hospitals have quality improvement efforts underway to improve the quality of their language access programs.” (Armand and Hubbard, 2010). The goal of the interpreter is to assure that the LEP patient has no doubts or concerns and totally understands what is going to happen, why, and any options they may have.

Since the hospital was huge, some patients came from other countries, and they could not speak English. So, I needed an interpreter to translate English to their language. First time, I went with Jake, and we had a hard time to give direction to patient’s mother how to use the medication. Second time, I watched a pharmacist gave counseling to the patient’s grandfather. The pharmacist made the grandfather could find the right medication and drew the right dose for the patient. She said I needed to make sure that they understood everything correctly, and I needed to spend more time with them for

The most effective method of communicating with patients with limited English is the use of a certified translator. When using this method, it is important to speak to the patient, not the translator. Eye contact should be utilized in the appropriate manner for the patient’s culture. The same terminology used with English-speaking patients

While reading the case, I was shocked that the physician did not call for a medical interpreter during his first encounter with Rico. Though Rico’s son offered to translate the physician’s words to him, it is general practice to avoid using family members as translators; in order

1. Get a certified Spanish to English Translator- To be able to communicate with the patient and make sure the report is accurate.

As the country begins to grow with the influx of non-English speaking immigrants, the need to communicate has become a great need in our country. In the medical community it is especially important to be able to communicate with one another and be understood. Providing goals that will support communication, will foster the communication between patients and providers to give and receive the best optimal care. Medical providers can deliver better communication with non-English speaking patients by conducting a primary assessment, using appropriate interventions, and continuous monitoring.

Medical Interpreters assist with translating for patients who do not speak English and need help communicating with their doctors and nurses. They orally translate the patient's language into English so the doctor, nurse, or other health care provider can understand the patient's needs, and they translate the English into the patient's language so the patient can understand what is wrong with them and how the doctor, nurse, or other health care provider plans to treat their condition. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the broader occupation category of interpreters and translators, which includes medical interpreters, was projected to increase by 29% during the 2014-2024 decade. The BLS reported in May 2015 that the median annual salary for interpreters and translators was $44,190.

I have known of well-seasoned Interpreters who turn down assignments at different venues because they do not feel they would be comfortable interpreting in that location. For example, if the interpreter has had a bad experience interpreting in doctor’s office or cannot cope with the sight of blood due to past experiences, he/she has the right to turn down the assignment. This fear or inability to work in a medical setting could be the result of vicarious trauma. This interpreter may have had negative experiences while on assignment in the medical

Lack of interpreter services as well as lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate health education materials has been associated with patient dissatisfaction, poor comprehension, low treatment compliance, and lower quality health care (Advocates for Youth, 2008). For example, when predominantly Spanish-speaking patients were discharged from an emergency room, they were less likely than predominantly English-speaking patients to understand their diagnosis, medications, treatment plans, and follow-up care instructions. Consequently, predominantly Spanish-speaking patients were also less likely to indicate satisfaction with their health care and were often reluctant to return for follow-ups (Betancourt

One of my biggest concerns with a medical interpreter is miscommunication. For example, even if a hospital employs an interpreter who speaks Spanish, it might not be the same dialect as the one the patient speaks. Depending on the dialect some words have different meaning and can be interpreted wrong. This is similar to what happened to Teresa Terry. She had both her breasts removed due to a translation error that led doctors to believe she had a family record of breast cancer when she did not. In reality, the lump she had was not cancerous at all, but a miscommunication with her interpreter led doctors to believe she wanted it removed anyway (Kroulek, 2015).