U.S. medical school curricula on working with medical interpreters and/or patients with limited English proficiency

Abstract

Purpose

The United States has an increasing population of individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). Language access is a right for individuals with LEP in the health care system. As such, it is important for medical providers to be appropriately trained to work with individuals with LEP. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe curricula offered by United States medical schools to teach medical students to work with medical interpreters and/or patients with LEP.

Methods

An electronic survey was sent in March 2017 to administration at the 147 Liaison Committee on Medical Education^® accredited medical schools as of November 7, 2016. The survey consisted of the following question: “As part of your medical school’s curriculum, are students provided specific instruction addressing how to work with medical interpreters and/or patients with limited English proficiency (LEP)?” with different follow-up questions for schools that responded “Yes” vs “No”.

Results

Responses were received from 26% (38/147) of medical schools. Among schools responding to the survey, 76% (29/38) offered a curriculum that provides instruction of how to work with medical interpreters and/or patients with LEP. Of schools that provide instruction, teaching methods included didactic sessions (34% [10/29]) and standardized patient experiences (34% [10/29]). In addition, 76% (22/29) offer training in the first 2 years of medical school and 28% (8/29) offer training in the third and fourth years of the curriculum. Sixty-two percent (18/29) of respondents that offered a formal curriculum have been administering a formal curriculum for ≤10 years.

Conclusion

The majority of the responding medical schools offer formal instruction of how to work with medical interpreters and/or patients with LEP. Most schools started this type of instruction in the last 10 years with most instruction occurring in the first 2 years of an undergraduate medical curriculum.

Keywords:

• health resource
• culturally competent care
• health services administration
• education
• survey

Author contributions

JH is responsible for conceptualization of project, survey development, data acquisition, and preparation of manuscript. WSW is responsible for list of target individuals within each medical school, data analysis, and preparation of manuscript. MW is responsible for survey development, data acquisition, and revision of manuscript. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All authors have reviewed and approved the final draft of the manuscript.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.