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Clinical Case Resolution
You decide to call in the interpreter and find out the patient was actually telling you that she was pregnant (and not embarrassed) and had heavy first-trimester bleeding. After the appropriate work-up, you are glad to have had the medical interpreter present to appropriately communicate the nuances of a threatened abortion and address your patient’s concerns in her primary language.
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ACEP Now: Vol 42 – No 10 – October 2023Dr. Cassone is an attending physician based in northern New York and has worked in several multicultural contexts, including Native American reservations and with Médecins Sans Frontières.
References
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- Regenstein M, Anders E, Wynia MK. Promoting appropriate use of physicians’ non-English language skills in clinical care: A white paper of the Commission to End Health Care Disparities with recommendations for policymakers, organizations and clinicians. American Medical Association, Chicago IL 2013.
- Kreger V, Aintablian H, Diamond L, et al. Google translate as a tool for emergency department discharge instructions? Not so fast! Annals of EM. 2019;74(4):S5-6.
- Taira RB, Kreger V, Orue A, Diamond L. A pragmatic assessment of Google Translate for emergency department instructions. J Gen Intern Med. 2021;36:3361-3365.
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