In the examination room waiting for you and your medical interpreter is a 63-year-old female patient from Japan. She has come into the medical practice because of a bad case of psoriasis that has developed recently. In order to treat her, you will need to examine her scalp. What should you tell the interpreter before you enter the room? What are some of the possible sources of misunderstanding that you anticipate before entering?
The interpreter should be familiarized with the things related to the patient. Like the information as who is the patient, from where does the patient belong, why the patient is here, what the patient is required to do for a complete checkup during the diagnostic procedure and so on. Giving this information would help the interpreter to keep the conversation between the physician and patient in a flow without any interruption.
The possible sources of misunderstanding could be the cultural difference and the understanding of the disease, the interpretation of non-verbal cues, how the interpreter would translate and convey what has been said from physician to the patient and vice-versa.