Expectations
To learn more about the expectations of a health care interpreter, read:
Core Competencies
Due to the long and successful history of our HCI Program, NLCP has developed Core Competencies of Interpreters and is setting industry standards:
Linguistic Competency
- Conversational proficiency (prerequisite)
- Slang and idiomatic expressions
- Health care terms and concepts
- Basic medical knowledge
- Listening and memory
Cultural Competency
- Self-awareness (Learning model)
- Diversity and cultural awareness
- US and other biomedical systems
- Characteristics of specific cultures
- Health beliefs, values and traditions
- Effective communication: cross-cultural, intercultural, and intra-cultural
Competent Interpreters
- Roles & responsibilities
- Interpreting skills
- Types of interpreting
- Code of ethics
- Standard of Practice
Effectiveness and Efficiency in health care settings
- Problem solving and conflict management
- Teamwork and group dynamics
- Time management
- Giving and receiving of feedback
- Legal and regulatory requirements
- Systems and resources
Interpretation Errors of Untrained Interpreters
Linguistic and cultural training helps minimize errors. According to a recent study, the most common interpreting mistakes are:
- Omitting a word or phrase - 52%
- False fluency, or using a word or phrase that doesn't exist in that language - 16%
- Substituting a different word or phrase than what the doctor used - 13%
- Giving a personal viewpoint about what the doctor said - 10%
- Adding a word or phrase - 8%
Findings revealed an average of 31 interpreting errors made on each of the 13 doctor visits in the study. Although some mistakes were small, for example, leaving out a word that didn't change the meaning of what the doctor said, 63% were considered serious errors that affected missed diagnoses and understanding of treatment regimens.
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