Spanish-speaking women report concerns with over-the-phone interpreters in gynecology

Key takeaways:

• Spanish-speaking women reported disrespect, incomprehension and a lack of privacy when using over-the-phone translation services.
• More than half reported preferring in-person vs. over-the-phone interpreters.

SAN FRANCISCO — In outpatient gynecologic settings, potential concerns may exist for over-the-phone translation services, especially for older and patients with less education, researchers reported.

“A decade ago, Jackson Health System switched to over-the-phone interpreters for our Spanish- and Creole-speaking patients, and we thought it would be beneficial to assess patient satisfaction with this new modality of translation in the outpatient gynecologic clinic because all of this work has been done in the family medicine and internal medicine fields,” Daniel Gomez, BS, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Miami, told Healio. “But there are taboo topics and a lot of sensitive topics that are going to be interesting and beneficial to look at.”

Gomez and colleagues administered an anonymous 33-item Spanish-language survey to 29 Spanish-speaking participants (median age, 47.5 years) to assess translation experiences. All surveys were collected verbally and in-person immediately following a clinic visit that included over-the-phone translation services.

Overall, 75.9% of women were uninsured and 48.3% did not have a high school degree or GED. Proficiency in the English language ranged from 10.3% with good and 48.3% with low proficiency.

Results, presented at the ACOG Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting, demonstrated that mean satisfaction with interpretation and medical care from over-the-phone translation services were high. However, 14% of women reported feeling disrespected by the interpreter, 10% expressed dissatisfaction with understanding treatment plans and 10% reported privacy issues with the interpreter.

In addition, 65% of women reported preferring in-person vs. over-the-phone interpreters.

Among women older than 40 years and those with less education, researchers observed more reports of discomfort in discussing medical history using the interpreter compared with women younger than 40 years and those with higher education levels.

“While we know that over-the-phone interpretation is effective, and it is received well by patients, we know there should be further studies, specifically in older and less educated patient populations, to make sure that we're providing this cultural competent care that includes this language concordance,” Gomez said.