Page 147 - S. Ličen, I. Karnjuš, & M. Prosen (Eds.). (2019). Women, migrations and health: Ensuring transcultural healthcare. Koper, University of Primorska Press.
P. 147
Monoligual Health?
not a native language of either of communication participants (House, 2003).
The survey has shown that Slovene healthcare workers usually use English
(global lingua franca) and Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin (regional
lingua franca). This strategy is followed by the use of ad-hoc interpreters and
by communication with mimics and gestures. To a lesser degree, Slovene
health professionals ask for help their colleagues who know the language
of the healthcare user. Quite often they also practice intercomprehension,
i.e. practice when each speaker speaks their first language and assumes that
their meanings will be understood by the other interlocutor (cf. House 2015,
p. 101). It is also common to use online dictionaries and translators (such as,
for example, Google Translate). However, all described strategies should be
seen as temporary and provisional solutions, since they cannot guarantee
accurate communication and cannot replace professional interpreter or in-
tercultural mediator (Kocijančič Pokorn, in press).
Lack of Training on Language Aspects of Healthcare
Considering the fact that communication with patients who do not speak
foreign languages was for decades systematically neglected in Slovenia, it is
not surprising that health professionals are not well acquainted with linguis-
tic aspects of healthcare provision. As our interlocutors emphasized, during
their studies (at medical faculties and faculties of health sciences) as well as
during their professional careers, there was no specific training that would
prepare healthcare personnel for a work in a culturally and ethnically diverse
healthcare setting.⁷
Interlocutor 1: All you have said [about cultural and linguistic aspects of
healthcare, AN] is fine, but I don’t know where to look for an interpreter.
⁷ In last years some project-based initiatives are attempting to bridge this gap, e.g. by orga-
nizing a 20-hours cultural competency training in three community health centres (in the
city of Celje, Sevnica and Vrhnika) by National institute for public health in the framework
of the project ‘Together for health’ (http://www.nijz.si/sl/publikacije/ucni-nacrt-usposabljanje
-za-razvijanje-kulturnih-kompetenc-zdravstvenih-delavcev) as well as 11 similar trainings in the
framework of the project ‘MoST’ (http://www.nijz.si/sl/most-model-skupnostnega-pristopa-za
-krepitev-zdravja-in-zmanjsevanje-neenakosti-v-zdravju-v-lokalnih). Moreover, a specific train-
ing for healthcare workers on communication with foreign-speaking patients was organized in
different Slovene cities as a part of the project ‘Designing a Multilingual Aid for Better Commu-
nication of Migrants with Healthcare Personnel’ (http://multilingualhealth.ff.uni-lj.si/). Just re-
cently a summer school with the title ‘Cultural Competences, Doctor-Patient Communication,
and Minority Health’ has been organized for students from different European medical faculties
(http://www.mf.uni-lj.si/media-library/2018/02/22d71f322dd0ebb69df169918dfc14c7_1.pdf ).
145
not a native language of either of communication participants (House, 2003).
The survey has shown that Slovene healthcare workers usually use English
(global lingua franca) and Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin (regional
lingua franca). This strategy is followed by the use of ad-hoc interpreters and
by communication with mimics and gestures. To a lesser degree, Slovene
health professionals ask for help their colleagues who know the language
of the healthcare user. Quite often they also practice intercomprehension,
i.e. practice when each speaker speaks their first language and assumes that
their meanings will be understood by the other interlocutor (cf. House 2015,
p. 101). It is also common to use online dictionaries and translators (such as,
for example, Google Translate). However, all described strategies should be
seen as temporary and provisional solutions, since they cannot guarantee
accurate communication and cannot replace professional interpreter or in-
tercultural mediator (Kocijančič Pokorn, in press).
Lack of Training on Language Aspects of Healthcare
Considering the fact that communication with patients who do not speak
foreign languages was for decades systematically neglected in Slovenia, it is
not surprising that health professionals are not well acquainted with linguis-
tic aspects of healthcare provision. As our interlocutors emphasized, during
their studies (at medical faculties and faculties of health sciences) as well as
during their professional careers, there was no specific training that would
prepare healthcare personnel for a work in a culturally and ethnically diverse
healthcare setting.⁷
Interlocutor 1: All you have said [about cultural and linguistic aspects of
healthcare, AN] is fine, but I don’t know where to look for an interpreter.
⁷ In last years some project-based initiatives are attempting to bridge this gap, e.g. by orga-
nizing a 20-hours cultural competency training in three community health centres (in the
city of Celje, Sevnica and Vrhnika) by National institute for public health in the framework
of the project ‘Together for health’ (http://www.nijz.si/sl/publikacije/ucni-nacrt-usposabljanje
-za-razvijanje-kulturnih-kompetenc-zdravstvenih-delavcev) as well as 11 similar trainings in the
framework of the project ‘MoST’ (http://www.nijz.si/sl/most-model-skupnostnega-pristopa-za
-krepitev-zdravja-in-zmanjsevanje-neenakosti-v-zdravju-v-lokalnih). Moreover, a specific train-
ing for healthcare workers on communication with foreign-speaking patients was organized in
different Slovene cities as a part of the project ‘Designing a Multilingual Aid for Better Commu-
nication of Migrants with Healthcare Personnel’ (http://multilingualhealth.ff.uni-lj.si/). Just re-
cently a summer school with the title ‘Cultural Competences, Doctor-Patient Communication,
and Minority Health’ has been organized for students from different European medical faculties
(http://www.mf.uni-lj.si/media-library/2018/02/22d71f322dd0ebb69df169918dfc14c7_1.pdf ).
145
