For many of us, moving toward an increasingly digital life is now just part of our routine. There are more and more telemedicine visits; however, when a doctor’s visit happens in person, the interpreter should be there in person as well. Having an in-person interpreter helps with confidentiality, clarity and efficiency – making physical presence interpretation a best practice for positive patient outcomes.
One of the biggest reasons for this simply comes down to the fact that the doctor and the patient aren’t always the only attendees of the meeting. Frequently, patients bring loved ones or friends for support or even out of necessity. When children or the elderly attend appointments, they are almost always accompanied by others. Doctors have nurses and assistants, and are often training or supervising others as well. This all makes for a lot of participants in a single medical encounter. Interpreting by phone or video can slow all this down, forcing only one person to clearly talk at a time, followed by pauses for consecutive interpretation.
YLC interpreters are capable of holding their own in dynamic situations. They are trained to manage the flow of conversation and so, when one of our interpreters goes into an appointment with many participants, they can quickly size up the conversational needs and situate themselves to employ a method that will guarantee free-flowing communication aided by our expert language knowledge. In an online or telephone environment, our interpreters don’t always have as many options available to them, especially involving multiple individuals and so they may need to ask for slower, more deliberate proceedings to guarantee accuracy and bridge the communication divide.
There are often many extra people to be found in a waiting room as well, and you might want to stop and think how you would feel talking into a screen in a busy waiting room and then having the person on that scream loudly broadcast your private medical concerns. Many patients are concerned that despite the great promise of technology, their privacy concerns are in jeopardy through the use of amplified speakers.
At Your Language Connection, we understand that patient confidentiality is key, and that busy medical professionals want to be as efficient as possible. We work hard to maintain your high professional standards and minimize any extra time that interpretation might take to keep your medical office moving smoothly and your patients satisfied. We do offer telephonic and online interpreting services as well, for when there is no other option. But, when you can, we encourage you to use our local, dedicated team of interpreters to solve your in-person communication needs quickly, efficiently and confidentiality.