Cultural mediation in the activities of the Institut Chiari de Barcelona

The Institut Chiari & Siringomielia& Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB) works with patients from all over the world. Since its foundation, a team of international patient care was built in order to support our medical team in communicating with patients of any language or nationality.

With the developments in the last 50 years in the field of Medical Anthropology, a sub-field of Cultural and Social Anthropology, a theory has been developed at international level. This theory deals with the social processes and the cultural representations of health, illness and healthcare or assistance practices related to it.

Thanks to this, we know how important the attention to these aspects is, especially in the healthcare sector, as well as the presence of a professional figure to mediate between the physician and the patient from a different culture in the work ambit.

The main function of the intercultural socio-sanitary mediation is to help with the direct and indirect communication between patients and the healthcare professionals of two different languages and cultures and, thus, facilitating the patient - provider relationship. (I)

The mediators ease the communication between the professional and the users of the healthcare services, which not only speak different languages, but also may have different ways of understanding the the world. In this sense, it is often pointed out that the translation refers only to the writing process, while the oral part is defined as interpretation. Linguistic interpretation always involves cultural aspects, since the meaning of words in any language goes far beyond than what is reflected in a dictionary. (II)

The work of the intercultural mediator thus involves very delicate ethical elements, given that the figure is a third presence within the care relationship. (II)

At our Institute, we have always given a special importance to the professional figure of the interpreter/mediator by giving continuous training regarding these aspects to the translators, so that they can meet the necessities of comprehension on both sides, starting from the patient’s first information inquiry to the post-operative follow-up procedure.

 

Currently ICSEB employs 11 translators, who can cover patient care in 14 languages. In our institution, they have received and accompanied patients from 45 different countries from the 5 continents.

In light of our professional trajectory and our experience of working in an international group, we are convinced that one of the factors contributing to the excellent results characterizing our patient care is our ability to metaphorically " bridge the gap" between patient expectations and provided healthcare, despite the cultural interferences in their relationship.

In this way, we favour the coexistence and the tolerance among the beliefs, habits and different interpretations of the world, both within our team in the daily activities as in the getting together of doctor-patient "therapeutic alliance", facilitating therapy and the patient’s healing process through the bio-psycho-social attention, ever so necessary for helping him in his disease during the application of the treatments offered by us.

Bibliography

(I)“La mediación en el ámbito de la salud/ The mediation in health.” Immaculada Armadans, Assumpta Aneas, Miguel Angel Soria y Lluís Bosch. Medicina Clinica, 2009.

(II)“La mediación intercultural sociosanitaria: implicaciones y retos.”

Adil Qureshi Burckhardt, Hilda–Wara Revollo, Francisco Collazos,Cristina Visiers Würth, Jannat El Harrak. NORTE DE SALUD MENTAL nº 35 • 2009 • PAG 56–66.