The Role of Medical Translator/Interpreter in Bringing Satisfaction to Health Tourists at Razavi Hospital

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of specialized translators and interpreters of medical discourse in bringing satisfaction to health tourists. The goal was to find the effect of non-professional medical interpreters (translators) in breaking efficient patient-physician relationship. Nowadays, most foreign patients are accompanied by someone who is not familiar with medical terminology and just thanks to knowing a language he/she becomes an interpreter of a foreign patient. Ten foreign patients from different countries were investigated in this report. Based on the gathered data, three findings could be concluded: Firstly, nonprofessional interpreters could not usually interpret medical terminologies accurately. Secondly, trained specialized translators can bring satisfaction to health tourists and help them with successful course of treatment. Thirdly, patients themselves were aware of non-professional translators’ misinterpretations which lead to dissatisfaction and considering other destinations for treatment.