Interpreting and the Mental Status Exam

Background

What is the Mental Status Exam? The MSE is an important component of many clinical interviews. Its results can inform the patient’s history, diagnosis, and treatment plan (Barnhill, 2014). All medical clinicians are trained to do the MSE, but it is most often used by clinicians in the mental health field. Its frequent use and value are comparable to taking a patient’s vital signs in other fields of medicine. So why does this matter for interpreters? A patient’s preferred language and culture must be taken into account when conducting and interpreting the results of the MSE. Linguistically and culturally, the patient must be able to understand the MSE questions and communicate their answers, while the clinician must be able to interpret the patient’s responses in light of potential linguistic and cultural differences between clinician and patient (Pollard, 1998a; Norris, Clark & Shipley, 2016). Interpreters play a crucial role in ensuring that these linguistic and cultural elements are accurately conveyed and considered in this important phase of a patient’s clinical assessment and care.