What do(n’t) hospital patients like about using professional interpreting services?

Abstract

Interpreting services in healthcare facilities are essential for patients with limited proficiency in the societally dominant language to communicate effectively with healthcare professionals. Patients can report symptoms more easily and healthcare professionals can diagnose conditions and outline treatment options more readily. Aside from resolving the issue of linguistic discordance, it is possible that patients see the presence of the interpreter as achieving other things as well. A study of 464 overt responses from 1,120 patients from 16 different language backgrounds in Melbourne shows that positive impressions (n=353) of interacting with an interpreter outnumber negative (n=111) ones. Over half of the positive feedback related to patients being able to fully understand and participate in medical consultations. Other positive outcomes included relieving family members of having to mediate, obviation of the risk associated with attempting to use English, and the belief that interpreters ensure information accuracy. Of those with negative experiences, 45% cite waiting time and availability issues, 24% a perceived lack of professionalism or linguistic ability. Feedback encompasses not only linguistic features and accuracy of the interpreter's output, but also what interpreters ‘achieve’ for them in the healthcare professional-patient interaction and beyond it, i.e. changes that are of a situational, intra-familial or socio-psychological nature.