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Interpreter assemblages: Caring for immigrant and refugee patients in US hospitals

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  • Bell, Susan E.

Abstract

US hospitals have developed a variety of strategies to meet federal requirements and provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health care for people who report limited English proficiency. A key strategy is the use of healthcare interpreters who may be physically present in the room or in the room via telephone or video conference. This paper analyzes the contingent and unstable combinations of heterogeneous human and nonhuman elements that form and disperse during visits to the hospital when healthcare interpreters are used. It draws its analysis from 9 months of fieldwork in 2012 that included following 69 adult immigrant and refugee patients in one hospital in Maine and observing encounters with interpreters and clinic staff. It introduces the concept of interpreter assemblage to make sense of the transnational mixes of people, technologies, and ideas that bring multilingual hospital care to life and give it a character of its own.

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  • Bell, Susan E., 2019. "Interpreter assemblages: Caring for immigrant and refugee patients in US hospitals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 29-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:226:y:2019:i:c:p:29-36
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.02.031
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Locock, Louise & Nettleton, Sarah & Kirkpatrick, Susan & Ryan, Sara & Ziebland, Sue, 2016. "‘I knew before I was told’: Breaches, cues and clues in the diagnostic assemblage," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 85-92.
    6. Leanza, Yvan & Boivin, Isabelle & Rosenberg, Ellen, 2010. "Interruptions and resistance: A comparison of medical consultations with family and trained interpreters," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 1888-1895, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Duff, Cameron, 2023. "The ends of an assemblage of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).

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