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The Essential Piece
A 45-Hour Multilingual Medical Interpreter Training Course for Bilingual Healthcare Staff

Building on existing untapped linguistic and cultural resources, The Essential Piece medical interpreter training provides qualified bilingual individuals with the skills required to deliver accurate and complete medical interpretation in health care settings.

The training also establishes participants' qualifications through extensive screening. Only candidates who demonstrate proficiency in comprehensive evaluations are granted a Certificate of Successful Completion.

Culturesmart's Medical Interpreter Training Programs have been offered to over 2,000 trainees who speak more than 20 languages. We are a leading program in the US to offer training in English and currently over 20 target languages, and where participants are evaluated extensively for proficiency in medical interpreting and knowledge of medical interpreting principles and medical vocabulary.

After attending this training course, participants will be able to:

  • Identify barriers to understanding that can occur between English-speaking providers and LEP patients and use various techniques to overcome those barriers
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the Interpreter Code of Ethics, the Standards of Practice by the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association (MMIA), the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) and the various legislative guidelines for interpretation
  • Identify the specific roles of the interpreter as established by the MMIA and the California Health Interpreters Association (CHIA)
  • Demonstrate basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology
  • Define key terms related to body systems and medical specialties in English and target language
  • Demonstrate an understanding of organizational policies, procedures and protocols as they relate to expectations of the interpreter
  • Demonstrate an understanding of health disparities, why they exist and what interpreters can do reduce health disparities
  • Demonstrate ability to interpret accurately and completely through role-plays, using appropriate bilingual terms, note-taking and memory retention strategies, and self-correction techniques as needed

Program Overview and Selected Content:

Pre-Course Language Assessment and Placement

DAY 1: Foundation, Interpreter Role Overview, Language-Specific Interpreting Practice

DAY 2: Code of Ethics, Interpreting Logistics, Human Body I, Language-Specific Interpreting Practice

DAY 3: Biomedicine, Health Disparities, Human Body II, Language-Specific Interpreting Practice

DAY 4: Patient Culture and Interpreting, Human Body III, Language-Specific Interpreting Practice

DAY 5: Leadership, Ensuring Access to Health Care, Dual Role, Language-Specific Interpreting Practice

DAY 6: Comprehensive Oral and Written Final Assessments

Key Features

  • Extensive Pre- and Post-Training Screening of Participants
  • Medical Vocabulary – Advanced Medical Vocabulary in Target Language with Language Coaching
  • Role-Playing: Intensive role-play sessions simulating doctor-patient encounters
  • Peer observation and critiquing
  • Proven Method: Culturesmart has trained over 2,000 interpreters who speak more than 20 languages
  • Subject Matter Experts – Most Trainers work as Full-Time Interpreters
  • Flexible Design and Easily Modified Curriculum for Customer Needs
  • Training Schedule Spread over Longer Periods of Time – usually over 6 weeks

For more information about The Essential Piece or if you are interested in bringing this training program to your facility or your community, please contact us

 
 
 

Course Materials


TEP Manual Cover

Materials include a 270-page, 8-section participant workbook with medical vocabulary, role-plays, interpreting skills, culture and biomedicine and all other topics discussed in class. This manual was last revised and updated in September 2006.

 

 

The Human Body edited by Charles Clayman, MD, an illustrated guide to the body's structure, function, and disorders. 240 pages.

 

 
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