Healthcare network, migration and cross-cultural adaptation in Lausanne: an action-research in progress

In Lausanne, Switzerland there is a growing population of migrant people of different origins, This evolving situation calls for a continuous adjustme nt between need and offer lit terms of healthcare. Up to now this adjustmen t which involves cross-cultural adaptation processes, was based on the use of untrained interpreters. However; clinical experience shows that the use of untrained interpreters tends to keep migrant patients in an unfavorable position. This paper describes an action-research in Lausanne, which aims a t the evaluation of the changes that are brought by the introduction of tra ined cultural mediators and interpreters (CMI) into the medical field The p aper enumerates the clinical issues that gave birth to the project and the methodological choices that were made. After discussing the first results, the authors describe how the different research stages ate adapted and modi fied through continuous mutual influences between the field and the researc h process itself.