“I felt that the interpreter was so critical for us to understand the context of the situation”: Students’ perspective of medical education’s introduction of services for Limited English Proficiency patients

Abstract

Interpreter services play an integral role in ensuring equity in healthcare for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), whose language barrier places them at increased risk for healthcare disparities. Even with the growing number of non-English-speaking patients, a sizeable number being Spanish-speaking, and although such training leads to more culturally competent care with better patient outcomes, there is little curricular time during medical school devoted to effectively using interpreters. This study aimed to understand better how medical education prepares future physicians for their encounters with LEP patients and what experiences they would appreciate in their medical training. Temple LKSOM student from the class of 2024-2027 (M1-M4s), were recruited through flyers and educator announcements to participate in three virtual focus groups with a total of 26 participants. Qualitative data analysis resulted in five themes which were: students felt that interpreters were integral to culturally competent care, students who speak another language have the undue burden of interpreting even when not comfortable doing so, students felt that there was not enough training in medical school regarding various types of interpreters, how to reach them or how to use them properly, students are open to doctoring sessions or simulations with non-English speaking standardized patients and interpreters, and the final theme was that there mixed feelings amongst students regarding the desire to have OSCEs with non-English speaking standardized patients and interpreters.