Bridging the Gap: Medical Interpreter Training Program -- Turn your language skills into a rewarding
Colorado Language Connection, a division of Asian Pacific Development Center, is licensed by The Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP) to offer Bridging the Gap Medical Interpreter Training in Colorado.
The growing number of culturally and linguistically diverse patients in the United States has made communication more challenging in health care settings. It is now common for health care institutions to recruit bilingual staff to serve as interpreters and translators, to ensure that patients and healthcare professionals understand each other clearly.
However, to ensure accurate diagnosis in medical consultations, more is required than simple language capability. Without special training, bilingual persons may lack skills in cross-cultural interpretation techniques and may also be lacking in medical vocabularies in patients' languages.
Increasingly, more hospitals and clinics in many states including Colorado are requiring medical interpreters and/ or bilingual staff who serve as an interpreter to complete a minimum number of training hours in medical interpreting. In general, 40-hour medical interpreter training such as “Bridging the Gap” is the standard training in the field of medical interpreting. This training is often a prerequisite for employment as a professional medical interpreter.
Bridging the Gap, created by The Cross Cultural Health Care Program, is a 40-hour professional development course that trains bilingual individuals to work as medical interpreters in hospitals and clinics. The course introduces attendees to critical skills required for successful interpreting in the medical field.
Topics covered in the training course:
Introduction to critical interpreting skills: the roles of the medical interpreter, code of ethics, mode of interpretation, managing the flow of an interpreted session, memory development
Culture and its impact on interpreting: cultural barriers, culture brokering, culture of biomedicine
Healthcare information: an overview of the healthcare system in the United States, culture of biomedicine, anatomy, medical procedures and terminology
Communication skills for advocacy: listening skills, communication styles
Professional Development: Eefective communication, professional conduct, resources for professional growth.
Course environment: active, student learn through participatory training techniques, including role-playing, group discussions and practicing medical interpreting.
Who can benefit from Bridging the Gap training?
1) Bilingual healthcare providers and professionals who also serve as interpreters in the workplace
2) Community navigators who provide interpretation in a clinical settings
3) Bilingual individuals who wish to pursue a career in professional medical interpreting
4) Bilingual individuals who wish to become a certified medical interpreter.
** For interpreters to be eligible for national certification from NBCMI and/ or CCHI, they need to complete a minimum of 40-hour interpreter training.
Bridging the Gap meets the training requirements that interpreters need to qualify for national medical certification from the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) and Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI).
For more information about Bridging the Gap, training schedule, and registration please visit our website at http://www.coloradolanguageconnection.org/bridging-the-gap or contact Jennifer Wanifuchi at clc@apdc.org 303-923-2945 or Agi Oseth at erhaoseth@apdc.org 303-923-6877
