Assessing needs for linguistic interpretation in hospital settings: A retrospective analysis of ad hoc interpreter requests

BACKGROUND: In Canada, healthcare professionals often rely on ad hoc interpreters, who are untrained volunteers recruited via intercom hospital announcements to interpret for patients with language barriers. This study analyzed the frequency of ad hoc interpreter requests via intercom announcements to estimate hospital interpretation needs. METHODS: A retrospective cohort analysis from intercom requests for medical interpretation collected from five hospitals of the McGill University Health Center. Requests included date, time, language requested, hospital location, and extension for who placed the request. RESULTS: A total of 1265 intercom requests were placed for 48 languages, with the top five languages being Mandarin (17.8%), Punjabi (10.1%), Inuktitut (9.8%), Arabic (7.3%), and Cantonese (6.4%). Almost 69.8% of requests were made during working hours, 13.2% on workday evenings, and 14.8% on weekends. Requests came from urgent care (42.3%), outpatient (29.5%), and inpatient (23.3%) settings. CONCLUSION: This is the first published study that measures interpretation needs via intercom requests. We propose that our method can be replicated to inform implementation of professional medical interpretation services. We conclude that linguistic interpretation needs are significant in the Montreal area, and likely in Canada in general and pose a barrier to effective medical care.