You’d think that the more you interpret a certain type of encounter, or a certain aspect of an encounter, the easier it would be to render the messages completely and accurately. You’d think. But you might be wrong. And “thinking” is exactly part of the problem. The more your brain gets used to patterns and familiar situations, the more tempted it is to go on autopilot. When your brain is on autopilot, you think you’re thinking, but you’re not. Watch out for routine, formulaic structures, and redundancy. Avoid interpreting on autopilot.
True story: A few years ago I was driving home from work. I had a lot on my mind and was cycling through a lengthy mental “to-do” list while sitting at a red light. When all of a sudden, I “woke up” and realized that I’d been sitting at the red light for what seemed like an eternity. Being first in line, I was sure I’d get honked at by the cars behind me at any moment to get my car moving. So, I looked left, looked right, looked left again, and I saw that there were no cars approaching from either direction. I immediately took my foot off the break and accelerated. Half way through the intersection, I glanced up at the traffic light, hoping I hadn’t messed up the traffic flow for everyone behind me, when I saw it. A solid red light in my direction. I did not have the right of way. I had just intentionally – sort of – run a red light, even though (thank goodness!) there was no traffic coming from either direction.
My mistake was quickly brought to my attention when a patrol officer (who was right behind me at the light – argh!), promptly pulled me over to chat about my driving technique. There was no question that I was in the wrong, but it wasn’t because I was impatient or thought myself above the traffic laws. I had simply gone on autopilot and misread the signals around me. What’s more, I was half a block away from my home on a route I took nearly each and every day – that’s very familiar territory.
As interpreters, we look for patterns and predictive scenarios. We get familiar with the routines of emergency department triage, outpatient registration questions, that one doctor’s scripted recommendations for toddler safety in the summertime, surgical risks, the isolation protocols for patients pending COVID-19 test results, and so much more. This is good. We should be familiar with these formulaic constructs and standardized communications. We should also be familiar with the physical surroundings, whether we’re in a waiting room or an operating room. But we also have to be careful that we don’t go on autopilot. We can’t let autopilot take over the interpreting because it is the 1 millionth time that we’ve interpreted this identical scenario and situation.
It might even be the 1 millionth time you’ve interpreted this same message for the same provider, so watch out for a related problem: providers who say to you, “Hey! You already know what I’m going to ask, so go ahead and ask, and let me know what the patient says.” This well-meaning yet misplaced trust in your abilities to somehow interpret a message without getting any source content first might seem like a nifty idea, but that’s not interpreting. It’s also not safe, appropriate or ethical. But let’s save that for further discussion for a different day. Getting back to the topic at hand…
Be careful that you don’t get so comfortable that your brain says, “Hey, I know the recommendations for treating an ear infection! I don’t have to listen to the doctor all that carefully. I just have to say what I already know.” If you do, you’ll be behalf way through delivering the message and your autopilot will shut down, leaving you wondering, “Wait, did the doctor actually say anything about an antibiotic or am I just remembering that from the 1 million previous times I’ve interpreted this scenario?” Then you’ll have some clean up (aka “clarifying”) to do.
So, by all means, get familiar with the patterns and routines of healthcare communications and protocols. Just don’t let them lull you into a mesmerized state of half-effort. Interpreting will take your full effort and full brain power each and every time. Each and every utterance.
Have you experienced interpreting on autopilot? How do you avoid it? Share your comments below.
P.S. I got some good advice from the patrol officer: Every once in a while, take a different route home in order to avoid going on autopilot during your routine drive-time. Apparently, this was not his first time giving that advice to a driver. Safe driving (and interpreting!), everyone!