Interpreters bridge language barriers
Train staff, interpreters for educational exchanges
When teaching patients from another culture, language is often a barrier. Bridge the communication gap with a trained interpreter, says Raquel Diaz-Sprague, MS, MLHR, president of Technical Support, a translation and interpretation company in Columbus, OH.
Using the bilingual housekeeper on staff at the hospital or the patient’s family or friends to interpret, is not appropriate, she says. The interpreter must be medically trained because he or she is explaining one culture, that of the health care provider, to the other, who is a person unfamiliar with the language, hospital procedures, and how the health care system works. The ability to accurately translate the patient’s concerns to the health care professional in terms that are understandable, and vice versa, is vital.
"In addition to medical training, the interpreter must be fluent in the patient’s language and understand the culture, for the translation is not word for word," says Diaz-Sprague.
Bilingual health care workers on staff make good interpreters as long as they receive training. Trained interpreters know how to be non-partial in their translation, she explains.
Before an education session begins, the patient educator should meet with the interpreter to explain the objectives of the teaching, says Rebecca Nelson, MA, program manager for community development at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus. It is important not only to make interpreters available but to teach staff how to work with them. For example, the health care professional must look at and interact with the patient, not the interpreter.
There are telephone interpreting services such as the AT&T Language Line, which many health care facilities use for languages in which they have no staff. This method is most successful in a room with a speaker phone, says Susan Karlins, MPH, patient education coordinator at Valley Health Plan in San Jose, CA. (For more on the Language Line service, see the editor’s note below.)
"For sensitive subjects, such as those related to sexuality, loss, and grief, or when the patient’s comprehension is compromised by serious illness or injury, in-person interpretation is essential," says Karlins.
[Editor’s note: AT&T Language Line Services provide over-the-phone interpreting from English into 140 languages. To communicate in a language, the interpreter must know its slang, idioms, vernacular, and nuances. Also, the interpreter must understand the specialized terminology of a specific industry, such as health care. For more information, contact: AT&T Language Line Services, Building 2, One Lower Ragsdale Drive, Monterey, CA 93940. Telephone: (800) 752-0093. World Wide Web: http://www.att.com/languageline.]
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