Question 3. What are the Disadvantages of Medical Student
Interpretation?
Despite its benefits, interpretation by medical students has also been
found to carry certain disadvantages.
3.1 Medical student interpretation carries disadvantages
for students themselves. A potential disadvantage reported in the
literature was that during an encounter, students may focus more on
interpretation than clinical learning, especially in high-stakes or
complex situations.25, 33, 41 Furthermore, medical
students have demanding schedules which limit their availability to
participate in an interpretation training program. Students also
reported not having formal medical terminology training in their mother
tongues.41 The literature shows that students without
formal training frequently found themselves in uncomfortable scenarios
where they had to interpret sensitive and/or critical information while
feeling unprepared.32, 39, 41 Moreover, attending
physicians are often not aware of students’ interpretation skills and
linguistic limitations, possibly increasing the burden for students who
are hesitant to refuse the task. 32, 41 In fact, a
significant proportion of students encountered challenging situations
where they felt uncomfortable yet obligated to interpret.32, 33
3.2 Medical student interpretation carries disadvantages
for patients and healthcare teams. Concerns were identified for
patients and healthcare teams, often in the context of untrained medical
students, focusing specifically on insufficient medical vocabulary, lack
of fluency, and poor cultural competency. 32, 33, 41These issues may lead to misinterpretation, omission, and truncated
patient responses.35 Another disadvantage for ad hoc
student interpretation is the possible trivialization of the importance
of language concordance: while students help address the demand for more
interpretation services, their lack of training and qualifications may
be regarded as devaluing professional medical
interpretation.19, 32 Bilingual students did
demonstrate an interest in acquiring training in medical interpretation,
however maintenance of qualifications is also an important
concern.33 Ambiguity regarding the medical student’s
role was also expressed. For example, challenges exist for students,
patients, and physicians in distinguishing between students’ clinical
and interpretation roles, increasing the risk of interpretation errors.8, 15, 33, 41