Medical Students' Experiences and Perspectives on Interpreting for LEP Patients at Two US Medical Schools.
Language concordance between patient and provider has been shown to improve health outcomes for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients. However, health care teams often use available ad hoc interpreters without knowing whether their language skills are adequate. Little is known about the role of medical students working as ad hoc interpreters.



Bilingual medical students are engaged as interpreters in the care of LEP patients and may serve as a potential resource for health care teams caring for LEP patients.



We conducted a multi-institutional online survey of graduating medical students at the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago in 2011 and 2012, containing both qualitative and quantitative questions regarding their experiences as interpreters for LEP patients.



Half (216/430) of contacted students completed the survey; 40 % (87/216) of responding students reported being bilingual. Of these students, the vast majority, 84 % (73/87), had been asked to interpret for patients in the clinical setting. Only 12 % (10/87) of students reported having felt uncomfortable interpreting for patients "often" or "very often." Over half (53 %, 46/87) described incidents during which they felt uncomfortable interpreting. Seventeen (17/46, 37 %) students described those incidents as high-stakes clinical settings.



Medical schools and health care institutions should establish guidelines for students who identify as fluent in another language and are interested in interpreting for LEP patients in clinical settings, to protect both students and patients when language poses a barrier to quality care.
Department of Medicine, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. mvela@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu.|Biological Sciences Learning Center, Suite 104, 924 East 57th St., Chicago, IL, 60637, USA. mvela@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu.
Monica B
MB
Vela
Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Cassandra
C
Fritz
Section of Hospital Medicine, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Valerie G
VG
Press
Department of Medical Education (DME), College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
Jorge
J
Girotti
D003144:Communication Barriers; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical; D014175:Translating
Health disparities; Interpreters; LEP; Language barriers; Medical Spanish