Pamela
Rodriguez
April 2022
Pamela
Rodriguez
Chamberlain University
St. Louis
,
MO
United States

 

 

 

Pamela did not leave the patient and helped to retranslate things that the interpreter was saying into more understandable terms for the patient.
Pamela and I were assigned to care for a patient in the emergency department who sustained an injury that required surgical intervention. He did not speak English, but Pamela is bilingual and was able to communicate with him and build a rapport with him during our time caring for him. She assisted the staff in communicating with him for assessments, she explained exams and tests to him, and she also stood by as the surgeon attempted to obtain informed consent using an interpreter service. The interpreter was using medical terminology and using a different dialect than the patient, so the patient was having difficulty understanding the reason for the surgery. Pamela recognized this and did not leave the patient and helped to retranslate things that the interpreter was saying into more understandable terms for the patient. She advocated for the best possible treatment and the best possible education for the patient.