Question 2. What are the Advantages of Medical Student Interpretation?
The literature reveals several advantages of medical student interpretation, which can be classified into 2 categories: advantages for patients and healthcare institutions, and advantages for student education.
2.1 Medical student interpretation is beneficial for patients and healthcare institutions. In healthcare institutions, student interpreters help expand the pool of interpreters, which was found to reduce the stress on staff, reduce wait time, and help maintain quality of care.15, 33, 38 They contribute to increasing in-person interpreter availability, which is often preferred over virtual means and leads to greater patient and physician satisfaction.15 Furthermore, medical students may often spend more time with patients than staff physicians and can contribute to their team’s care of LLP patients by gathering additional information.33, 39 Students who share the same language with patients were also found to be in a better position to notice cultural subtleties and to provide culturally concordant explanations, which overall support the promotion of patient-centered care. 33, 39 Hospital staff and patients were found to be grateful for interpretation services provided by medical students, who were noted to be conscientious and demonstrate good judgement about when to seek help.35 According to Diaz et al, participants in the respective training program were highly rated by healthcare providers. 34 Some physicians also found it helpful to have even untrained medical students interpreting in certain clinical encounters. 39 Finally, permitting students to serve as interpreters has been suggested to contribute to building a future workforce of culturally competent physicians, and heighten the awareness of cultural sensitivity among healthcare providers.15, 38
2.2 Medical student interpretation is beneficial for students’ education. While it was advantageous for both patients and healthcare institutions to have medical students as interpreters, students themselves also benefitted from this relationship. They were found to gain a better multidisciplinary perspective through working with different members of the healthcare team and to learn about the interpersonal and technical dimensions of healthcare.15, 35, 39, 40 Furthermore, with exposure to a diverse population of various cultural backgrounds, students had the opportunity to build their cultural competency skills and prepare themselves to serve a diverse patient population. 15, 34, 39, 41Even when medical students served as ad hoc interpreters without prior training, they reported the experience to be positive overall. In these cases, students highlighted that they connected with patients in meaningful ways, and that they enjoyed making a valuable contribution to patient care.25, 33, 35 The experience also contributed to the formation of their identity as professional healthcare providers. 25, 41 Preclinical students benefited greatly by gaining early exposure to patient care.15, 36 Moreover, medical students who participated in an interpretation training program reported becoming better informed about medical interpretation and being more comfortable in that role.21, 34, 36 They also improved their communication skills by gaining insight into the ways both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication can influence a patient encounter.21, 34 It was also found that by attending interpretation training, students became more empathetic towards patients with limited English proficiency. 21, 40, 41