Working with interpreters and achieving culturally competent communication

Abstract

Healthcare around the world is currently experimenting with the development of culturally and linguistically competent workforces and systems of care. Fundamental to this enterprise is redressing the problems of language and cultural barriers between the community and service providers. Evidence shows that interpreted interviews return improvements in the clinical encounter and patient outcomes over non-interpreted interviews, especially when professional (rather than untrained) interpreters are engaged. There is a need for greater appreciation among clinicians of the complexity and difficulty of the communicative task in patient-clinician communication, particularly when patients and clinic..