Interpretation A variation on the professional interpreter model is the use of telephonic interpretation, provided either through a professional language service or through in-house remote interpreting. These services are appropriate for emergencies, for uncommon languages and for patient-provider interactions that would take place over the phone anyway. If there is no speaker phone and the patient and provider have to pass a handset back and forth, communication is further impaired. Another concern is the quality of the interpretation, since the hospital or clinic has no control over which interpreter is put on the line. Language line interpreters routinely are expected to cover any call that comes in, whether legal, insurance, medical, financial or tourist.
Few interpreters can be competent in all subject areas.
When contracting a language line, then, one should ask specific questions about what steps the service takes to assure quality interpretation in a medical setting. With this model, patient and provider are equipped either with headsets or with two handsets, and the interpretation is done simultaneously over the phone by an interpreter seated elsewhere in the medical complex. This approach allows the hospital to choose its interpreters carefully and to make most efficient use of their time. Whether patients and providers are satisfied with this model is still in question. The final model for providing language services is to assign a bilingual provider.