Vol. 13 Issue 3. 2019

In many migrant families, children or
young adults have the best knowledge
of English in the family and so are
often called upon to be the interpreter.
The use of underage interpreters
raises further ethical issues as they
are tasked with interpreting sensitive
health information about a loved one.
So caution is needed when using
family members as interpreters.
How can the use of interpreters be
increased and improved?
There are some key actions that
should be taken to improve healthcare
experiences and outcomes
for people with limited English
proficiency.
First, training for both interpreters
and health-care professionals is
essential to develop skills for effective
collaboration.
Second, there should be additional
time allocated for appointments
where interpreters are used. This
is because each sentence must be
said twice during the exchange of
information and time is needed for
briefing and debriefing about the
session.
Third, health services need to collect
accurate information to determine
whether an interpreter is needed. A
person may present with functional
English but still require an interpreter
for ease of communication given
the complex terminology and the
seriousness of medical conversations.
And finally, professionally trained
interpreters must be available in the
languages and dialects required. There
are more than 300 languages spoken
in Australia and many have multiple
dialects.
Investment in interpreting services
is essential to ensure the provision of
equitable, high quality health care to
all Australians. In a country where
interpreters may improve care for one
quarter of the population, we can’t
afford not to.
Article first published on The Conversation
Sarah Verdon
Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer
in Speech and Language Pathology,
Charles Sturt University