Abstract
BackgroundTrained medical interpreters are instrumental to patient satisfaction and quality of care. They are especially important in student-run clinics, where many patients have limited English proficiency. Because student-run clinics have ties to their medical schools, they have access to bilingual students who may volunteer to interpret, but are not necessarily formally trained.MethodsTo study the feasibility and efficacy of leveraging medical student volunteers to improve interpretation services, we performed a pilot study at the student-run clinic at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In each fall semester in 2012–2015, we implemented a 6-h course providing didactic and interactive training on medical Spanish interpreting techniques and language skills to bilingual students. We then assessed the impact of the course on interpreter abilities.ResultsParticipants’ comfort levels, understanding of their roles, and understanding of terminology significantly increased after the course (p < 0.05), and these gains remained several months later (p < 0.05) and were repeated in an independent cohort. Patients and student clinicians also rated participants highly (averages above 4.5 out of 5) on these measures in real clinical encounters.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that a formal interpreter training course tailored for medical students in the setting of a student-run clinic is feasible and effective. This program for training qualified student interpreters can serve as a model for other settings where medical students serve as interpreters.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0760-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Trained medical interpreters are instrumental to patient satisfaction and quality of care
During the research period, we found that on an average clinic day in our student-run clinic (SRC), 63 % (SD = 17 %) (8.5 of 13.3) of patients spoke only Spanish, while only 32 % (SD = 16 %) (2.4 of 7.4) of student-clinicians were proficient in Spanish
The discrepancy we have observed at our SRC between the number of Spanish-speaking patients and clinicians highlights the need for language interpreters to ensure patient safety and high quality care
Summary
Trained medical interpreters are instrumental to patient satisfaction and quality of care They are especially important in student-run clinics, where many patients have limited English proficiency. Almost 50 % of US allopathic medical schools operate at least one student-run clinic (SRC). These clinics enhance the training of the future medical workforce [1] and serve as a healthcare safety net by providing free care to a predominantly uninsured minority patient population [2]. A substantial number of patients in SRCs possess limited English proficiency (LEP), a language barrier that often impedes healthcare delivery. The number of Spanish-speaking patients with LEP attending SRCs and the availability of Spanishspeaking student clinicians caring for them are unknown. Scarcity of student clinicians who speak Spanish fluently enough to provide appropriate care may result in reliance on clinicians with limited Spanish proficiency or untrained ad-hoc interpreters such as patients’ family members or bilingual clinic
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