ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2015
Not just "getting by": factors influencing providers' choice of interpreters.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of Professional Interpreter Use in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Nurses' Experiences of Working With Healthcare Interpreters When Caring for Patients With Limited Proficiency in the Primary Language: A Qualitative Systematic Review.Journal of clinical nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Strategies to Increase Professional Interpreting in Clinical Settings: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Patterns and Predictors of Professional Interpreter Use in the Pediatric Emergency Department.Pediatrics · 2021Trial
- Deficiencies in Provider-Reported Interpreter Use in a Clinical Trial Comparing Telephonic and Video Interpretation in a Pediatric Emergency Department.Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety · 2020Trial
- Use of Untrained Interpreters in the Inpatient Setting: What Does the Record Show?Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Language Concordance and Interpreter Use in Primary Care: Perspectives from Spanish-preferring Patients.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Article
- Language as a pillar of cultural safety: evaluating hospital-based healthcare workers' knowledge of First Nations languages and interpreter services in East Arnhem Land, Australia.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Medical Interpreting in Primary Care: Design and Validation of a Replicable Training Program.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Managing consultation duration in primary care: A systematic review with health equity insights.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Review
- Caregiver Satisfaction with Medical Providers' Communication: Comparison Between Spanish-Speaking Caregivers with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and Caregivers Who Are English-Proficient (EP).Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Observational
- The Impact of Language Discordance on Acquiring Broad Social History: A Qualitative Study of Patients, Clinicians, and Interpreters.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Communication practices with patients using a language other than French: a cross-sectional survey in a university hospital in France.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Researcher Perceptions of Inclusion of Study Participants Who Use Languages Other Than English.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- "How Fluent Do I Need to Be to Say I'm Fluent?" Research Experiences of Communities that Speak Languages Other than English.Community health equity research & policy · 2025Article
- Nursing perspectives on advancing language access in the emergency department: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Artificial intelligence in clinical settings: a systematic review of its role in language translation and interpretation.Annals of translational medicine · 2024Review
- Barriers and facilitators to culturally sensitive care in general practice: a reflexive thematic analysis.BMC primary care · 2024Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundProviders consistently underutilize professional interpreters in healthcare settings even when they perceive benefits to using professional interpreters and when professional interpreters are readily available. Little is known about providers' decision-making processes that shape their use of interpreters.
objectiveTo understand the variety of considerations and parameters that influence providers' decisions regarding interpreters.
designA qualitative, semi-structured interview guide was used to explore providers' decision making about interpreter use. The author conducted 8 specialty-specific focus groups and 14 individual interviews, each lasting 60-90 minutes.
participantsThirty-nine healthcare professionals were recruited from five specialties (i.e., nursing, mental health, emergency medicine, oncology, and obstetrics-gynecology) in a large academic medical center characterized as having "excellent" interpreter services. APPROACH: Audio-recorded interviews and focus groups were transcribed and analyzed using grounded theory to develop a theoretical framework for providers' decision-making processes. KEY
resultsFour factors influence providers' choice of interpreters: (a) time constraints, (b) alliances of care, (c) therapeutic objectives, and (d) organizational-level considerations. The findings highlight (a) providers' calculated use of interpreters and interpreting modalities, (b) the complexity of the functions and impacts of time in providers' decision-making process, and (c) the importance of organizational structures and support for appropriate and effective interpreter utilization.
conclusionsProviders actively engage in calculated use of professional interpreters, employing specific factors in their decision-making processes. Providers' understanding of time is complex and multidimensional, including concerns about disruptions to their schedules, overburdening others' workloads, and clinical urgency of patient condition, among others. When providers make specific choices due to time pressure, they are influenced by interpersonal, organizational, therapeutic, and ethical considerations. Organizational resources and guidelines need to be consistent with institutional policies and professional norms; otherwise, providers risk making flawed assessments about the effective and appropriate use of interpreters in bilingual health care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.