Communication models, professionalization, and the work of medical interpreters

A growing number of health institutions are employing medical interpreters, bilingual individuals who facilitate communication between health care providers and patients. Organizations working to establish the professional status of medical interpreting have articulated codes of ethics that prescribe a number of different roles for interpreters in their clinical work. Interviews obtained from 17 medical interpreters support the observation that the code of ethics, based primarily on a conduit model of interpreter communication, does not provide consistent guidance in clinical practice. I discuss the role of communication theory in developing improved models for interpreter practice.