It is interpreting that takes place in medical / healthcare settings of any sort, including doctor’s offices, clinics, hospitals, home health visits, mental health clinics, and public health presentations.
Typically, the setting is an interview between one or more healthcare providers (doctor, nurse, lab technician), health care team(s) and a patient (or the patient and one or more family members).
Information from NCIHC, for more information, please click here
A medical / healthcare interpreter must have superior, unquestionable command of the two languages and must be able to manipulate registers from the most formal varieties to the most casual forms, including slang. The interpreter’s vocabulary must be of considerable depth and breadth to support the wide variety of subjects that typically arise in the many medical / healthcare settings.
At the same time, the interpreter must have the ability to orchestrate all of these linguistic tasks while interpreting in the simultaneous and consecutive interpretation modes for persons speaking at rates of 200 words or more per minute.
Medical / Healthcare interpreters facilitate communication between patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and their physicians, nurses, lab technicians, and other healthcare providers.
When a patient has limited second language skills, it is nearly impossible for even the most skilled clinician to provide high-quality healthcare services without accurate interpreting performed by a trained, qualified interpreter who is familiar with medical terminology. If family members, friends or staff who are not trained as healthcare interpreters try to interpret in healthcare settings, errors in understanding and/or communication can occur, posing grave risks to the patient and immense liability to the healthcare institution.
Information from ExploreHealthCareers.org
We have developed training seminars to help Medical / Healthcare interpreters go from aspiring interpreter to a competent interpreter*.
Since 2002, our training seminars, which are held throughout the United States, have helped over 400 interpreters enter the professional ranks in the following areas:
