The Role of Intercultural Mediators in Healthcare Interactions between English-Speaking Patients and Italian Clinicians during Electronic Documentation

Abstract

Effective clinician–patient communication is fundamental to harmonious relationships and the success of care provided. With the increasing use of electronic medical records and the direct involvement of clinicians in dealing with them, concerns have been raised regarding the potential negative impact of digital parallel activities on the interactional construction (Crampton et al. 2016). The communication challenges are further exacerbated when patients come from migrant backgrounds and have limited linguistic proficiency. Extensive research in community interpreting has shown the crucial coordinating role interpreters play in healthcare settings, facilitating communication and improving the overall quality of care (Angelelli 2004; Gavioli and Merlini 2023). This study aims to explore an additional dimension of this issue by examining whether mediators can also contribute strategically to clinician-patient communication when clinicians are occupied with electronic documentation. Drawing on a corpus of 100 audio-recorded, interpreter-mediated encounters collected from health centers in two provinces of northern Italy with patients speaking English as a second language, this paper investigates how interpreter-mediated medical encounters unfold when clinicians direct their attention to computers to enter data. We specifically look at how participation is redistributed in these moments, focusing on the practices used by clinicians, mediators, and patients to manage typing episodes while ensuring both information accuracy and the relational quality of care.