Decision-making in paediatric palliative care interpreting

The interpreting profession has long used metaphors or rule statements to describe and teach the ways in which practitioners make decisions (Dean & Pollard, 2011, 2018). Interpreting students are also often taught that the context of an encounter will dictate their decision-making by way of statements such as “it depends”. Such pedagogical statements can make talk between a practitioner and a medical professional about the responsibilities of an interpreter during medical encounters difficult. This study is based on the work of Dean and Pollard (2011, 2018) on value-based decision-making and is guided by the four principles of biomedical ethics (respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice). It has sought to provide evidence of the existence, applicability and usability of these frameworks through a single case study of a real-life appointment in which a parent of a palliative care outpatient and a medical professional communicated during a consultation, aided by a medical interpreter.

Do Hispanic Patients Who Require a Medical Interpreter Understand the Severity of Their Glaucoma Diagnosis?

Background and Hypothesis: Glaucoma is a group of progressive optic neuropathies characterized by a degeneration of retinal ganglion cells with characteristic changes in the visual field. The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES) is the largest and most recent study to determine the prevalence of open-angle glaucoma in Hispanics; reported at nearly 5%. Between 2010 – 2019, Hispanic patients accounted for more than half of the United States population growth, reaching a record of 60.6 million Hispanics living in the United States. With an influx of Hispanic’s migrating to the United States, there is an increased need for medical interpreters to assist medical professionals in encounters with Hispanic patients. The success of a medical encounter relies on a multitude of factors, but when a medical interpreter is involved, the stakes are even higher. We hypothesize that Hispanic speaking patients will have lower rates of understanding their glaucoma diagnosis and severity, in comparison to English speaking patients due to gaps in translation provided by medical interpreters. Project Methods: Native Spanish and native English-speaking patients from the Eskenazi Health Eye Clinic were recruited via phone, reminding them of their upcoming eye appointment and their eligibility to participate in the study. Interested patients were provided with information regarding the study and consent materials at the start of the medical encounter. Participants who consented were administered the survey at the end of their medical encounter, in their preferred language, in person, at the clinic. Results: This is an ongoing prospective study. Potential Impact: This study will determine if medical interpreters successfully relay all the necessary information regarding a Hispanic patient’s glaucoma diagnosis. This study could also provide a partial explanation as to why there is a high no show rate and high medication noncompliance rate within the Eskenazi Health Eye Clinic Hispanic population.

THE MEDICAL LITERATURE: EQUIVALENCE OF TRANSLATION

The purpose of this article is to analyze the translational equivalence of medical dialogues from the textbook "Medicine in Dialogues" by K.B. Shodmonov, M. Baratova, D. Razhabova, Z. Nematova, taking into account the scientific and methodological base of the categories. The article provides an overview of the glossary and texts to determine the semantic similarity of the source text and its translation. The distribution of frequencies of using equivalent categories is due to linguistic reasons, differences in grammatical structures, a variety of word combinations, differences in word order, etc. As a result of the analysis, the most frequently used equivalence approaches in the scientific medical style of translation are defined in this article. In many dialogues, examples of translations of sentences at the level of medical words (terminological units) are given due to the fact that in a scientific style a literal translation of the text is much preferable, since a scientific text requires clarity in its presentation with the most complete correspondence of the translation to the original. This is due to the fact that in the second part of the textbook, where dialogues with a difficult level are given, detailed complex sentences are often used, in addition, the original translation contains a large number of terms that have completely different formulations in English. Low level of comprehension of the problem of translation equivalence leads to simplification of the perception of the essence of translation reduces the explanatory power of analysis, its concrete phenomena and possibilities of the linguo- translation studies in general, prevents the single scientific picture of translation as an object studied, in consequence of which the perspective of its research is partly lost. In practical terms, the chosen problem requires application of the results of research in the training and works of translators, teachers and editors in assessing the quality of translations.Achieving the equivalence of translation is the goal of the medical interpreter.

A Better Medical Interpreting Service

Medical interpreting has become a new research focus in recent decades, but few studies have discussed the role of interpreter in combination with strategies. This paper aims to work out how a medical interpreter plays his or her role and adopts strategies when interpreting between English and Chinese. Based on a first-hand medical interpreting corpus, this empirical study tagged the interpretation and made a detailed analysis of the interpreter's role and strategies. The results revealed that under the guideline of Goffman's participation framework theory the medical interpreter facilitated the therapeutic talk via three roles, namely “animator,” “author,” “principal”; for each role, different interpreting strategies, like “supplement,” “omission,” “compression,” etc. were adopted. Moreover, the study found motives behind interpreting strategies under the specific context. The sociological discussions are presented in the hope of enhancing medical interpreters' understanding of their roles and the importance of adopting more flexible strategies in order to provide better service.

The Premise and Development of CHECK IN—Check-In for Exchange of Clinical and Key Information to Enhance Palliative Care Discussions for Patients With Limited English Proficiency

Communication regarding serious illness is challenging in most circumstances. Patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) have unique language and cultural needs that often require collaboration with a trained medical interpreter, especially when the clinical encounter involves serious illness decision making or elucidation of patient goals, preferences, and values. Although there is mounting evidence to support interpreter/clinician huddles before a serious illness communication encounter, no current initiatives exist to operationalize this evidence. We are currently in the process of developing, evaluating, and implementing a formal interpreter/clinician huddle process to promote high quality care for patients with LEP. Our huddle guide, called the Check-In for Exchange of Clinical and Key Information (CHECK-IN), is designed to facilitate collaboration between an interpreter and clinician during a serious illness encounter by prompting exchange of relevant sociocultural and clinical information between clinicians and interpreters.

Medical Interpreter Education and Training

This chapter gives an overview of medical interpreter training curricula in a fast-changing, technologized world. This chapter will discuss the training models, training components, challenges, the settings in which training is offered, professionalization, and continuing education. Medical interpreting, which is synonymous with healthcare interpreting, is a situated practice and takes place in various medical contexts. It is performed either in person or remotely. In order for medical interpreters to facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers who do not speak the same language, a high level of linguistic and cultural dexterity is required, similar to that of their peers in other settings, such as legal and conference interpreting. The number of academic and para-academic medical interpreter training programs is growing, and more research on the role, training, and technology used for medical interpreting is being published to meet these needs.

A Medical Interpreter Training Program and Signed Language Interpreters' Decision Latitude

The certificate in healthcare interpreting (CHI) is a medical signed language interpreter training program in the U.S. This qualitative study consisted of focus groups to examine the effect of CHI on graduates' views of their role, responsibilities, and decision latitude. Analysis suggests that CHI may be shifting practitioners from a restrictive conduit model (taking no action when faced with a decision) to a values-based approach. Also outlined are features of the program that contribute to this shift.