Improving the quality of medical interpretation: Core competencies and training

As the need for interpreter services has increased, the demand for high quality training and education programs to prepare bilingual adults as interpreters has also increased.  At present, the quality of training programs across the country varies widely and there is little consistency as to what is taught, how it is taught, and with what results. Nationally, there is a need to develop guidance on those elements that should to be included in training programs in order to ensure a satisfactory and consistent level of competence among persons who complete them. Consumers of interpreter services need to be able to know that a person who has completed a training program has the basic skills to do a competent job as an interpreter. This presentation will describe a study that was conducted to identify, from the perspective of trainers and trainees, what the core competencies are that a health care interpreter should have upon completion of a high quality entry level training program and the instructional strategies used to ensure that these competencies were acquired. Core competencies were identified to include the knowledge base (what interpreters should know), the skill base (what interpreters should be able to do) and professional attributes. The study was sponsored by the New York Department of Health and was a collaboration among the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society at New York University Albany, Education Development Center, Inc., and the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care.