The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2023 - 18

General Advice for
Interpreting for
Obstetrics Patients
Give patients and
providers the ability to
control the conversation by
practicing communicative
autonomy.
Limit yourself to your
interpreting role and let
the trained providers
offer words of comfort
and healing to patients.
If you're going to interpret
for an obstetrics patient,
prepare yourself that a
loss is a possibility, even if
you have worked with the
patient before and there
were no complications.
Make a point not to add
or omit anything from
the conversation with
the obstetrician.
If you're called to interpret
for an obstetrics patient,
expect the unexpected.
By being a professional
interpreter and limiting
yourself to your
interpreting role, you're
making a difference in
patients' lives.
in these encounters. In
other words, get " each
party in [the] encounter
to be responsible for and
in control of [their] own
communication. " 3
Health care
providers receive training on
what to say or not to say, but
interpreters and the general
public do not. Intercultural
communication is complex,
especially when dealing with
infant and pregnancy losses.
In life and death situations,
it's tempting for interpreters
to want to help by offering
words of comfort to the
patient or family; however,
by doing this they risk saying
the wrong thing, even if they
mean well.
I can still feel the sting of
well-intentioned comments
from family and friends after
Maya died. " At least you
didn't lose a child. " " Your
loss isn't as bad as other
losses. " " Everything happens
for a reason. " " When are you
going to start having kids? "
If you're interpreting
for a patient who appears
to be having a normal
pregnancy, don't assume she
has never had a loss. I had
three " normal " pregnancies
after Maya, but there was
never a day I felt confident
that everything was going
to turn out alright. I was
always aware that a loss
was possible, even if it was
statistically improbable.
Make a point not to add
or omit anything from
the conversation with the
obstetrician. They know the
patient's history, but you
may not. Physicians are not
infallible, but they do have
the advantage of being
able to prepare properly for
these encounters.
Expect the Unexpected
If you're called to interpret
for an obstetrics patient,
my advice is to expect the
unexpected. Pregnancy
losses are not uncommon.
According to the American
College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, the number
of early pregnancies that
end in a loss is roughly 10%
and " [a]pproximately 80%
of all pregnancy losses occur
in the first trimester. " 4
If
you're going to interpret
for an obstetrics patient,
prepare yourself that a
loss is a possibility, even if
you have worked with the
patient before and there
were no complications.
Many limited-Englishproficient
patients in the U.S.
have limited access to health
care. The conversations you
interpret between a patient
experiencing a loss and their
health care provider could be
some of the few opportunities
that patient has to receive
proper counseling.
Remember, by being a
professional interpreter and
limiting yourself to your
interpreting role, you're
making a difference in these
patients' lives.
NOTES
1. Geller, Pamela, Mark Woodland, and Christof Daetwyler.
Psychological and Medical Aspects of Pregnancy Loss
(Drexel University College of Medicine online module).
2. Meder, Danielle. " Interpreting Best Practices to Support
Communicative Autonomy " (Cross-Cultural Communications).
3. Garcia-Beyaert, Sofía. " Communicative Autonomy and the
Role of the Community Interpreter. " In Marjory Bancroft
(Ed.), The Community Interpreter®
(Culture & Language Press, 2015), 363.
4. Early Pregnancy Loss (American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists).
The bassinet where we laid Maya after she was born.
18 The ATA Chronicle | January/February 2023
Marisa Rueda Will, CHI has been a medical
interpreter at a major U.S. medical center for
over 15 years. She became a certified health
care interpreter (Spanish) in 2012, and a
licensed interpreter trainer through Cross-Cultural
Communications in 2017. In 2020, she became a simulation
center instructor. She is a member of the National Council
on Interpreting in Health Care Webinars Work Group.
She specializes in education through storytelling and has
published articles on the blog of ATA's Interpreters Division.
Her company, Tica Interpreter Training and Translations,
focuses on training and educating novice and advanced
medical interpreters, based on real-life patient experiences.
marisa@ticatnt.com
www.atanet.org
: An International Textbook

https://webcampus.med.drexel.edu/interactive/pregloss/module/content/index.htm https://webcampus.med.drexel.edu/interactive/pregloss/module/content/index.htm https://webcampus.med.drexel.edu/interactive/pregloss/module/content/index.htm https://webcampus.med.drexel.edu/interactive/pregloss/module/content/index.htm https://www.ncdhhs.gov/media/13091/download?attachment https://www.ncdhhs.gov/media/13091/download?attachment https://www.thecommunityinterpreter.com/communicative-autonomy https://www.thecommunityinterpreter.com/communicative-autonomy https://www.thecommunityinterpreter.com/communicative-autonomy https://www.thecommunityinterpreter.com/communicative-autonomy https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2018/11/early-pregnancy-loss#:~:text=The%20frequency%20of%20clinically%20recognized,at%20age%2045%20years%207 http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2023

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