L'interpretazione in ambito medico-sanitario: realtà della professione e necessità di formazione specifica

This work focuses on interpreting in the healthcare settings and analyses the working experience of four professional interpreters in different hospitals of the so-called ‘Area Vasta’, which includes the provinces of Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena and Rimini, all located in the North-eastern part of Italy. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of the interpreter in this specific context and find out whether there is a difference between the guidelines set out by some codes of conduct and what happens ‘on the ground’. The analysis of four interviews highlighted that differences are quite significant. The main cause of this gap seems to be the lack of recognition of the interpreter’s professional status, which makes healthcare professionals and patients unaware of interpreters’ role boundaries. The findings also allowed us to show the complexities of the profession in this context, with a specific focus on some aspects, such as the emotional engagement, a frantic and at times disorganized working environment and the perception of the interpreter’s role by doctors and patients. These results clearly suggest that training in interpreting techniques, although fundamental, is not sufficient. Therefore, it would seem appropriate to expand and improve the current offer of training courses dedicated to interpreting in the healthcare context, since this proved to be very limited. In particular, courses could focus more on in-depth knowledge about communication mechanisms and coping skills to deal with emotional stress and with a highly demanding working environment, since respondents reported they felt unprepared in these respects. Furthermore, it seems safe to say that all parties could benefit from inter- professional training, not only interpreters, but also the other participants in the interpreter- mediated communication, such as healthcare professionals.