When the global economy looks healthier than ever before, traveling to distant countries for business and joy continues to grow at a steady pace. The influx of foreign students to universities in the USA and the UK, as well as software and other professionals in European and American enterprises, has increased over the past two decades. According to the latest estimates, there are about 45 million people in the United States who speak their native language other than English, and among them about 19 million people have limited ability to communicate in English.
Demand for interpreters and translators in hospitals and clinics
When non-English-speaking patients seek medical care, the problem of proper communication by translating and interpreting the patient's problem for doctors and other medical staff at the medical center takes on a serious meaning. Most patients take for granted that when they go to a doctor or hospital and describe their specific disease and its symptoms, a treatment line will be assigned according to their condition. But in reality, things are not so simple: communication is a key element here, as there may be unexpected consequences if the patient or his family cannot clearly explain the exact nature of the patient’s condition and the accompanying symptoms. The situation can be even more dangerous if it happens in an emergency.
Although some hospitals and clinics have trained translators on board to translate patient conversations, many of them do not have such translation services. In any case, an incorrect attitude to the incorrect transfer of the patient’s condition can have serious consequences for the outcome of the treatment.
Medical errors caused by interpretation errors.
In a recent study conducted at the pediatrics department of the Boston Medical Center, 13 interviewers were interviewed between doctors, their patients (not speaking in English) and translators were processed with videos, and it was found that there were only 396 translators of error! The study showed that untrained translators make mistakes more often that have serious consequences for the patient's health than trained personnel.
The most common interpreter errors listed in the study were as follows:
Omission: (52%), in which the translator left important information.
False fluency: (16%), in which the interpreter used words or phrases that did not exist in a particular language.
Substitution: (13%), in which a word or phrase is replaced with another word or phrase of a different meaning.
Editorial: (10%), in which the interpreter's opinion is added to the interpretation.
Addition: (8%), in which the word or phrase is added by the translator.
(Source: language barriers lead to medical errors
kyha.com/OCRLanguage/Language%20Barriers%20Lead%20to%20Medical%20Mistakes.pdf)
Availability of a translator or translator
Currently, translation services are covered by insurance in five US states: Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington. Many major hospitals in Milwaukee have salary interpreters, and the hospital children's hospital uses both oral and incomplete Hispanic interpreters. Many hospitals outsource their translators or translation services based on needs. However, a number of medical institutions do not have sufficient resources to cover the costs of hiring interpreters or translators.
On a more fascinating note, it is worth mentioning the situation in the hospital Lucille Packard in the Gulf. David Peshard, a native of Mexico, along with his dedicated team of professional and volunteer translators, helps alleviate the problem faced by Hispanic patients and their families who have difficulty communicating in English. Peschard not only offers interpretation services to Spanish-speaking families, but also helps to find translators for patients who speak many other languages, including Russian, Cantonese and Japanese. He also coordinates the training of translators and the commissioning of volunteer services at short notice when it is necessary to interpret conversations between patients and their doctors. Vietnamese is the second most common language, followed by Mandarin and Cantonese.
With rapid advances in medicine, which occur simultaneously with the cross-border migration of people in large numbers, either for education or for livelihood, the need for high-quality interpretation and translation in medical institutions is felt with greater intensity. Medical errors can be costly not only to patients and their caregivers, but also to medical institutions. Therefore, it would be advisable to apply strategies similar to those practiced in the hospital of children Lucille Packard by medical institutions in the interests of all stakeholders.
