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Interpreting Medicine: Lessons From a Spanish-Language Clinic
Benjamin P. Brown
Background n/a
What This Study Found A practicing physician examines how working with a predominantly Spanish population reminds him of the importance of understanding patients--not only in the literal sense of being able to understand the patients' language--but in a broader sense of having the courage to ask about the patients' struggles and to invest in helping them overcome them. Good physicians, he asserts work to forge a common language with all their patients, not only with those who do not speak English. He concludes that to become a doctor is also to become an interpreter.