What is ISO 21998 about?
ISO 21998 specifies requirements and recommendations for healthcare interpreting services in spoken and signed communication. It is applicable to all situations requiring healthcare interpreting, where the parties involved need to communicate using spoken or signed language, to treat a health-related issue.
ISO 21998 is intended for interpreting service providers and healthcare interpreters.
Note: Healthcare interpreting is also referred to as medical interpreting.
Who is ISO 21998 for?
ISO 21998 on requirements and recommendations for healthcare interpreting is relevant to: 
- Healthcare services
- Healthcare professionals
- Healthcare administrative staff
Why should you use ISO 21998?
Healthcare interpreting services enable safe communication mainly between healthcare providers and patients by providing linguistic access to healthcare services.
Health care interpreters facilitate communication between patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and their physicians, nurses, lab technicians and other health care providers.
ISO 21998 was developed in response to a worldwide growing demand to accommodate the interpreting needs of patients deprived of linguistic access to healthcare services and healthcare professionals, such as physicians, nurses, and healthcare administrative staff, as well as to strive towards patient safety, wellbeing, and dignity during interactions related to the provision of healthcare-related services.
ISO 21998 aims to bridge the communication gap between patients and healthcare professionals. ISO 21998 can serve as a guidance and basis for you to set up a suitable legal, administrative and educational system for all healthcare interpreting stakeholders. This will hugely benefit your organization as you will be able to provide better care for the patients.
