Phone interpreters reach the room through TIS National, which the Australian Government funds for medical practitioners in private practice, and NAATI credentials the on-site interpreters a practice books for scheduled appointments. The audio of an interpreted consult carries two languages and more than two speakers.
Consent through the interpreter
Consent to record is sought through the interpreter before recording starts, so the patient hears the request in the language they are answering in. The interpreter is told the consult is being recorded, and so is anyone else present who will speak.
Attribution in the record
History taken through the interpreter is attributed to the patient. It is the patient's account, carried into English by a third person.
Collateral history carries the name of the person who gave it. A relative's observation recorded as the patient's own report changes the history, and the difference bears on cognitive assessment, capacity and safeguarding. A request to leave out something a family member said is a clinical judgement made at review.
The note records that an interpreter was used, the language, the service, and the interpreter number where the service gives one.
Accuracy limits in the transcript
Overlapping speech is the weakest point in a recording. Where two people talk across each other, fragments blur in the transcript and the draft is thin at that moment.
Content spoken in the other language and not carried into English does not reach the note. Nothing in the workflow checks the interpreter's rendering against the patient's own words.
The words that change clinical meaning are drug names that sound alike, numbers and units in doses, and negatives, where one short word reverses a finding. Hydralazine transcribed as hydroxyzine reads as an ordinary line in the draft. Accent affects those words in the patient's speech and in the clinician's.
The review before signing
Nothing leaves aurii until a clinician signs it. Clinical safety. The review has extra targets in an interpreted consult.
- Attribution: statements credited to the patient were said by the patient, and collateral history carries the name of the person who gave it.
- Interpreter details: the language, the service, and the interpreter number where one is given.
- Medication: every drug name, dose, unit and frequency matches what was decided in the room.
- Negatives: denied symptoms and normal findings read the way you remember them.
- Names and places: patient and family names, suburbs and facility names are spelt correctly.
- Overlapping speech: the parts where people spoke over each other are present, and anything material that was lost is typed in.
aurii in an interpreted consult
aurii records the consult audio, transcribes it in Australia, and stores the draft in Australia.
Yes. Record the language, the service and the interpreter number where the service gives one. It shows how the history was obtained and lets the practice book the same support for the next appointment.
The patient consents, and consent is sought through the interpreter so the patient hears the request in the language they are answering in. Anyone else who will speak is told the consult is being recorded.
In overlapping speech, where fragments blur, and in drug names, doses, units and negatives, where one word changes the clinical meaning. Content that was never carried into English does not reach the note.
This article is general information for clinicians and practice managers. It is not clinical or legal advice.