Bilingual staff and medical interpreting

“Bilingual staff and clinicians can communicate directly with the LEP [Limited English Proficiency] patient, without the need for interpreters. This model is considered the best form of communication if staff is fluent at the level required for patient interactions. When the patient and provider share the same cultural background, mutual understanding of cultural beliefs and health care practices enable providers to address subtle cultural nuances that can influence health behaviors and attitudes. This model is most economical when a significant proportion of LEP patients speak a particular language. One limitation, however, is that bilingual staff and clinicians may not be able to work with all the language groups present in the LEP population. To facilitate patient-provider language concordance, several health plans now publish the language of their providers in their provider directories.”

(Extract from “Implementing Interpretation Services,” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

As the extract points out, it can be useful and cost-efficient for health care providers with large numbers of LEP patients to hire staff members who are bilingual in certain key languages. It would be impossible, however, to have bilingual health care professionals available at all times for all language pairs.

Language interpreting thus remains a key element of providing quality health care.

Translators and interpreters for highly specialized fields such as medicine and law require specific training. At Language Translation, Inc. in San Diego, our translation and interpreting services work with qualified professionals who understand not only the languages, but also the technical subject matter they deal with.