Medical students as interpreters in health care situations: "... it's a grey area"

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which medical students in Australia are acting as interpreters in medical settings, and their perceptions of this activity. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Anonymous online survey of final year students in the graduate medical program of the University of Melbourne, undertaken in 2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Numbers of students who had acted or who had been asked to act as ad hoc interpreters in health care situations during their clinical rotations and outside the medical education context. RESULTS: 146 of 319 final year medical students completed the survey (46% response). 106 students (73%) reported they could speak at least one language in addition to E..