MUSC interpreters 'bridge' the gap with patients

A visit to the hospital typically means either you or a loved one is sick or injured. It’s stressful enough when you speak the same language as your doctors, nurses and other hospital staff. When you don’t, it can quickly become disorienting, even terrifying.

It’s the job of medical interpreters like Isabel Detzler and Sam Cogdell to make sure that doesn’t happen. As interpreters, they make sure patients and health care providers understand each other and communicate effectively.

Being an interpreter takes more than just speaking another language, they say. Accurately translating complex medical information requires training, and interpreters must follow a code of ethics, striving to maintain impartiality and refraining from personal involvement. All the while, they must take into consideration the cultural context of the messages they convey and keep patient information confidential.

“Often bilingual physicians are pulled in to interpret for another provider,” Detzler said. “But the problem is, it’s very hard to avoid paraphrasing, omitting information or adding in their own assessments.”

Cogdell agreed. “It can be different to step outside your accustomed role,” he said. “It takes training.”

The pair have teamed up to offer that training. Using a program called “Bridging the Gap,” which was developed by the Cross Cultural Health Care Program, a Seattle-based non-profit, Detzler and Cogdell will teach a boot camp for interpreters starting in October. The program will be taught in English and is not language-specific, so anyone who speaks more than one language, including American Sign Language, is eligible to participate.

Seventeen MUSC interpreters have already completed the 40-hour curriculum as a dry run of the program. “Our very experienced interpreter staff went through the training, and we learned a lot from each other,” Cogdell said. “It was a good refresher for them, and we got a lot of constructive feedback.” 

Detzler said it was an important opportunity to share ideas and standardize interpreter training and best practices across MUSC.

The course will include role-playing scenarios to practice patient interaction, in addition to information on medical terminology, ethics and other important topics.

By adding to the number of trained interpreters available at MUSC, Detzler hopes to alleviate some of the stress on the hospital’s small full-time interpretive staff, who may see upward of 75 patients a day. She also hopes to help the department find interpreters for less common languages like Portuguese and Mandarin, which are currently handled through Pacific Interpreters, an over-the-phone service.

It’s a tough job, Detzler said, but ultimately very rewarding. “Delivering bad news to patients is one of the hardest things to do,” she said. “You often want to soften the blow, but you have to communicate exactly what the provider is saying.”

Cogdell said that is something all medical interpreters have experienced. “When a physician has to give the worst news possible, and you hear him or her deliver the news in English, there’s no reaction on the part of the family member,” he said. “But, as the interpreter starts to speak, that’s when they react. So, we’re all very aware that the information passes through us, along with the emotions of both parties. That might be sadness or shock, but it might also be anger or frustration. And we’re right in the middle. But that’s where we need to be.”

Antwan Walters, who serves as coordinator for Interpreter Services, said the new Bridging the Gap program is an important part of MUSC’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. “It’s a way to put our patients first,” he said, “no matter what language they speak.”

For information about future course dates, contact Antwan Walters at telephone: 843-792-5078 or bridgingthegap@musc.edu.