title: How to work with an interpreter.
abstract: The Audit Commission recently highlighted the need for health services to plan language services to help the problems of poor communication facing non-English speaking patients. Doctors and other health workers need to know how to work effectively when interviewing patients with an interpreter. This article describes the different options for helping non-English speaking patients; explains how interviews should be conducted with a trained interpreter, including those using sign language; and outlines the extent of interpreting services currently available in the United Kingdom, complete with a list of addresses of organisations offering interpreting services.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, London.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Phelan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parkman
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003144:Communication Barriers; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007802:Language; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012813:Sign Language; D014175:Translating