ABSTRACT
Effective communication is the bedrock of the doctor– patient relationship. It is perhaps the most important conduit by which the doctor is able to gain information from the patient about their problems. In most cases, the doctor is able to directly glean the information they require from the patient themselves. However, this is only possible if the two parties converse in the same language. There are several tools a doctor can use to improve communication with patients for whom English is not their first language. The most commonly used of these are interpreter services. This chapter focuses on some of the techniques and explains how to manoeuvre themselves through this increasingly common challenge. Interpreters play a useful role in facilitating conversation between a clinician and a patient who is unable to speak English. When using an interpreter, the dynamics of the doctor–patient relationship will be distorted from the traditional ‘doctor– patient– doctor’ to one of, ‘doctor– interpreter– patient– interpreter– doctor’.
