CULTURAL PERCEPTIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS – THE LANGUAGE PROBLEM (INTERPRETER) | Weight loss and diet plan for a healthy lifestyle.

Sultana Noor, recently registered, living with only her two daughters, asked for an abortion of her eight-week pregnancy. She had had an affair with the husband of her neighbour, and was overwhelmingly concerned that no-one in the Muslim community should find out. She wished to ensure that none of the nurses at the hospital would be Muslim. For herself there seemed to be little room for personal feelings.

If it is hard to gauge how much a spouse’s own feelings may reinterpret their partner’s words, it is almost impossible to estimate the interference of attitudes from an unofficial unrelated interpreter. They may be quite detached, or on the other hand, oppressive, haranguing and bullying the patient, taking their perception of the clinicians needs to extremes. By contrast, almost complete detachment is obtained with telephone interpreters. This must surely be the most cost-effective method of coping with translation. A team of interpreters in all the languages prevalent in the borough is provided by the local health authority and they are available by telephone from their office. They are fully trained to keep strictly to translation. If hands-off handsets are not available, they will lend doctors double-socket handsets. The disembodied voice is only briefly alarming, as they quickly introduced themselves and explain the confidentiality of their service. The clinician explains who they are and what the consultation is about in broad terms. Thereafter they translate back and forth and their physical absence goes some way to maintaining the semblance of a confidential doctor/patient relationship. For many doctors this suits their style of work. For other health workers such as domiciliary family planning nurses, home visits can be planned so as to be able to go jointly with an interpreter.