In health care interactions with patients from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds, there is always a worry about information being lost in translation between health care providers and their patients. Linguistic and cultural alignment plays a crucial role in the quality and efficiency of health care services. Although telephone interpreters, with or without video functions, are available online, none can replace in-person interpretation. Even though prominent political discussions have shifted towards artificial intelligence for interpretation, sidelining in-person human interpreters, the realm of health care may still require their presence. This is particularly relevant if such interpreters are reachable and available at all times to cater to the diverse needs of patients and providers alike.
With rising health care expenses making in-person interpretation potentially unaffordable, it might be beneficial to consider training a varied group of multilingual pre-medical students and graduates in this field. They could act as interns, effectively facilitating in-person interpretation among diverse patient-provider demographics. Even if these internships (possibly referred to as language “doulas,” inspired by doulas) were unpaid or offered minimal compensation, they could provide valuable opportunities for pre-medical students and graduates seeking real-world health care experience prior to applying to medical schools. Furthermore, trained pre-medical students and graduates volunteering as language “doulas” could efficiently address gaps in health care service delivery.
Like any new strategy, there would be advantages and disadvantages to integrating language “doulas” into health care environments. Their function would be to professionally accompany patients, aiding in keeping health care encounters as linguistically and culturally intimate as possible while preserving the professional integrity of effective service delivery. For contemporary patients, shifting away from artificial intelligence virtual interpreters may prove daunting, as modern life may have led humans to lose touch with the subtleties and importance of face-to-face communication. However, over time, they might rediscover a fondness for in-person interaction and come to appreciate it again, particularly during linguistically-culturally complementary interpretations.
From the viewpoint of pre-medical students and graduates, interning as language “doulas” would enable these trained volunteers to witness firsthand the experiences, emotions, and needs of diverse patients. Such valuable experiences would greatly benefit them as they advance to become medical students and ultimately compassionate doctors. Even as volunteers, these pre-medical students and graduates would need to undergo thorough training based on specific standards prior to their internships. Their linguistic-cultural training programs could draw inspiration from the training provided to doulas, who offer professional support for patients and families during perinatal and peripartum periods.
Overall, this essential pathway of language “doulas” accompanying patients to facilitate linguistically-culturally compatible health care should not be pushed to an unfulfilled future but should be embraced in the swiftly advancing present. This is particularly vital to ensure and improve health care delivery in multicultural and multilingual societies with a wide range of populations.
Deepak Gupta is an anesthesiologist. Kaya Chakrabortty is a graduate student. Yara Ismaeil is an undergraduate student.