Multilingual needs are on the rise in medical institutions and health care organisations. The crucial role played by interpreters and interpreting staff has been highlighted in many studies. Practices and problems of medical staff and health care institutions faced with multilingual patients have been studied in terms of the doctor-patient-relationship, the interaction of nurses and healthcare staff with patients in intercultural settings, and the (lack of) pragmatic competences of physicians and international medical graduates. However, up to now, the challenges have not been made palpable on an international scale, in a way that comparisons may be drawn between different solutions, their socio-cultural and institutional implications.This volume is the first to address multilingual healthcare communication around the globe, with a view to practical challenges, institutional, social and linguistic aspects. It covers studies from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Greenland, aiming to pave new directions of communicative and methodological agendas and to cast a critical view on current linguistic practices in health care, nursing and medical encounters. This volume is intended for policy makers, medical and health care practitioners, institutions, teachers and students in professional multilingual health care.weiterlesen