(the details of this story have been altered)
Yesterday at the Clinic that I volunteer at periodically there was a man who came in who is a missionary to Detroit. Yes, that's right he has been sent from his home country of Venezuela to be a missionary to the Spanish speaking population of Southeastern Michigan--perhaps a sad commentary on the work that the local churches were doing to minister to those of the inner city.
So I went out into the waiting room and called Mr. Hernandez back into one of the rooms of the clinic. As we were walking, I asked him if he spoke any English, to which he responded in the negative.
I did my best to stumble through some of the basic spanish that I still remembered from undergrad combined with a few of the medical terms that I had picked up while working at a clinic whose patient population is 50% hispanic. Most of the sentances sounded something like, "Uh...necessito tocar...uh...su......pression." But as is the case most of the time, he was more than happpy to pretend like he understood every word I was saying rather than appear rude.
This guy had really high blood pressure, and I mean really high. 196/120 high, and I noticed from his chart that he had somewhat poorly controlled hyperlipidemia (high levels of "bad" cholesterol etc.). Once I had taken all of his vitals I told him that I would be right back with the "doctor," who is actually a nurse practitioner--but I didn't know how to say "nurse practicioner" in Spanish, and even if I did, I doubt that he would have any idea what the difference was between that and a doctor.
The next time we went back into the room, we brought one of the medical technologists from the clinic who was fluent in both Spanish and English. Here's how it went.
Sandra
"Ask him if he has been taking his medication"
Translator
"Yada yada yada (for the next minute)"
Patient
(Talks to the translator for around 45 secs)
Translator
"He says that he always takes his medication"
Really. That's all that he said in 30 seconds of talking? I take my medication. Tocarlo. It seems like he could have said that in a word or two, what did he use the other 40 seconds to talk about? And what were you saying the whole time? Neither me nor the LPN said anything (and I'm not sure if she even thought about it, but for me it was a bit of a disconcerting experience).
I realized then why the other doctor wanted me to do as much as I could without using a translator--especially when the only translators that we have available have very little background in medicine. A couple more examples:
Later on the translator kept saying that if he came back and talked to the nurse who specializes in diabetes, they could give him a meter for checking his blood sugar. But when the translator repeated the phrase in spanish she said we would give him a machina para pression (basically, a machine for checking his blood pressure).
I really knew that the message wasn't getting across when the translator didn't know the English word "testosterone," when she was explaining what the patient said to her.
So much of the medical interview can hinge on a single word. Did the patient say he checks his blood sugar occasionally or often. Has he had high blood pressure for 5 years or 14 years. What is the nature of the pain in his chest, is it stabbing or is it like someone is sitting on top of him. These difficulties are increased when you get a translator that fancies herself as a doctor and feels that what gets asked during the medical interview is her business.
The best translators that I have seen are those that take one sentance the doctor says in their native tongue and translates it into one sentance in the patients language. When the patient responds, the translator should stop the patient every sentance or so in order to translate back to the doctor. But in a larger sense, this experience has reminded me how important it is to learn as much as I can of Spanish, as it would be one of the most valuable foreign languages to learn as a future doctor in the United States.
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