Capital's Division of Continuing Education is partnering with Latino Community Services to offer a course called "Introduction to Medical Interpreting." It's a 40-hour course that takes place every Tuesday & Thursday from April 3 through May 24, 2012. The time is 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM. For more information or to register, please email cpettit@ccc.commnet.edu, or call (860) 906-5130. This time around, we'll be training folks who are fluent in both Spanish and English.
So, you wonder, can't anyone interpret and translate? Why train interpreters?
If you have 10 minutes, check out this video. It's a class favorite under the unit "cultural competency in health care" for our health information technology students, and features a medical interpreter at work!
The case for professionally trained medical interpreters is pretty strong. According to the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA), " A medical interpreter must have the skills and knowledge base to quickly comprehend the message in the source language, and just as quickly re-express it in the target language." That includes the ability to quickly and accurately translate medical terminology from one language to another - and back!
In addition, medical interpreters are health care professionals, bound by the same HIPAA confidentiality laws as your doctor, nurse or dentist, whereas a family member is not. The stress is particularly difficult when children are called upon to be interpreters for their parents, which happens more often than you might imagine.
Language lines are often employed by hospitals and larger doctor's practices, but loses something when the element of body language is removed from the mix.
Finally, language barriers appear to increase the risks to patient safety.
Pretty convincing, huh?
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