Medical interpreter

[Deleted member 737595]

I speak Spanish fluently and was thinking about taking up a role as a medical interpreter as my clinical experience. I have been volunteering at the hospital ED for a few months now and I have noticed many times when my ability to speak spanish would have served the staff well.

Is a job as a medical interpreter a> worth it? and b> decent clinical experience, or should I stick to volunteering? I'm speaking strictly about what medical schools want to see; is there any perk to doing translation?

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[Lucca]

It was really good clinical experience for me in that it was essentially primary care shadowing where I was actually somewhat useful to the physician. I really enjoyed it and being a native speaker it wasn’t challenging at all, but I did get a lot of patient contact out of it.

I did it as a volunteer so I wasn’t a paid interpreter. A lot of the paid positions are also just phone translation as opposed to in person.

 

[Incursio]

Hey, so I am a full time spanish medical interpreter for a hospital, after having doing it since I was a freshman in undergrad

In terms of whether it is actually worth it, it is good clinical experience especially if you can get a job at a medium-large size hospital with many different specialties. As far as I know there are a lot of people who volunteer to be Spanish medical interpreters, but not that many with actual qualifications to be one. I can tell you that there is a difference between actually knowing the terminology vs being fluent. If you decide to take a class in that, that would be looked upon more favorable and would give more credibility to your spanish medical skills. But, rather than thinking whether adcoms would love it or not think about what your goals are and if that particular experience would help in your goals.

 

[Goro]

I speak Spanish fluently and was thinking about taking up a role as a medical interpreter as my clinical experience. I have been volunteering at the hospital ED for a few months now and I have noticed many times when my ability to speak spanish would have served the staff well.

Is a job as a medical interpreter a> worth it? and b> decent clinical experience, or should I stick to volunteering? I'm speaking strictly about what medical schools want to see; is there any perk to doing translation?

A) Yes
B) Yes

Work history is a valuable commodity. For many people in this arena, residency is the first true employment, and this is not a good thing.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

It was really good clinical experience for me in that it was essentially primary care shadowing where I was actually somewhat useful to the physician. I really enjoyed it and being a native speaker it wasn’t challenging at all, but I did get a lot of patient contact out of it.

I did it as a volunteer so I wasn’t a paid interpreter. A lot of the paid positions are also just phone translation as opposed to in person.

Yes, I would do it as a volunteer, probably at the hospital where I currently volunteer. I was just wondering whether or not it would be a good use of time. What draws me to it is playing an active role in the hospital without too much commitment like CNA or EMT. Also, the physician shadowing part is great. Did you count this as shadowing?

 

[bubba21]

I volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at a free clinic, and it was incredibly rewarding.

Most hospitals have professional interpreter services, but most free clinics don't have any services available. Considering a disproportionate amount of the Spanish-speaking population is uninsured and has access to health care through free clinics, this can be an insurmountable barrier. I'm not 100% fluent, but I took a course in medical terminology before I started. I interpreted the patient/doctor conversations, so I got a lot of clinical exposure. I also helped patients with cases that couldn't be handled at the clinic to arrange appointments for x-rays, surgeries, etc. I had many patients tell me that without the help of me and the other volunteers, they would have gone untreated.

Definitely worth it not just as a resume-builder but as a truly fulfilling experience.

 

[Catalystik]

I speak Spanish fluently and was thinking about taking up a role as a medical interpreter as my clinical experience. I have been volunteering at the hospital ED for a few months now and I have noticed many times when my ability to speak spanish would have served the staff well.

Is a job as a medical interpreter
a> worth it? and
b> decent clinical experience, or
c> should I stick to volunteering? I'm speaking strictly about what medical schools want to see;
d> is there any perk to doing translation?

a) yes.
b) yes.
c) You need volunteerism in some form, but not necessarily medical/clinical if you get that exposure through the workplace.
d) It is an excellent demonstration that you have 'real-world' language-skill capability and you aren't just claiming fluency because you think it looks good.

 

[LizzyM]

Interpreter: verbal
Translator: written

Pet peeve of mine.

Do understand that being able to speak in lay terms to an individual and to report to the physician what the patient says, is one thing, but can you also interpret what the physician says to the patient? Can you explain in Spanish that there is a blockage in the gall bladder that may be due stones or gravel and complicated by scar tissue in that area and that the treatment will require...

Also, keep in mind that there is a code of conduct for interpreters. You must repeat everything the patient says, even if the patient confides in you and doesn't want you to tell the doctor. Trained interpreters learn this but a volunteer who just wants to be helpful may be uninformed of these nuances.

 

[Incursio]

Interpreter: verbal
Translator: written

Pet peeve of mine.

Do understand that being able to speak in lay terms to an individual and to report to the physician what the patient says, is one thing, but can you also interpret what the physician says to the patient? Can you explain in Spanish that there is a blockage in the gall bladder that may be due stones or gravel and complicated by scar tissue in that area and that the treatment will require...

Also, keep in mind that there is a code of conduct for interpreters. You must repeat everything the patient says, even if the patient confides in you and doesn't want you to tell the doctor. Trained interpreters learn this but a volunteer who just wants to be helpful may be uninformed of these nuances.

So true, depending on the situation you might even need to hurry the pace and even do simultaneous interpreting as opposed to consecutive (one interprets after someone says something) and its easy to get caught up when the providers throw all these medical terms if you are not familiar with them.

Sometimes you might need to interpret for tough situations like giving bad news or other situations that could be emotionally draining and since you are in the middle even if the emotions are not thrown at you, you feel the “blows”

But like the above posters mentioned, if you end up taking a Spanish interpreting class and end up volunteering, it is extremely rewarding, you would be helping to even out the field so these people could receive the equitable care they deserve

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Interpreter: verbal
Translator: written

Pet peeve of mine.

Do understand that being able to speak in lay terms to an individual and to report to the physician what the patient says, is one thing, but can you also interpret what the physician says to the patient? Can you explain in Spanish that there is a blockage in the gall bladder that may be due stones or gravel and complicated by scar tissue in that area and that the treatment will require...

Also, keep in mind that there is a code of conduct for interpreters. You must repeat everything the patient says, even if the patient confides in you and doesn't want you to tell the doctor. Trained interpreters learn this but a volunteer who just wants to be helpful may be uninformed of these nuances.

Of course, this is why I would have to take some course or test, to know the basic terms in Spanish. Also, I would do pretty well with the example you told me. And I would be interested in interpreter, not translator.

I was asked if I could translate (interpret) for a patient in the ED and I told them that I am not trained in interpreting so they would have to wait for one. They appreciated that I told them this because not being trained could be catastrophic.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

So true, depending on the situation you might even need to hurry the pace and even do simultaneous interpreting as opposed to consecutive (one interprets after someone says something) and its easy to get caught up when the providers throw all these medical terms if you are not familiar with them.

Sometimes you might need to interpret for tough situations like giving bad news or other situations that could be emotionally draining and since you are in the middle even if the emotions are not thrown at you, you feel the “blows”

But like the above posters mentioned, if you end up taking a Spanish interpreting class and end up volunteering, it is extremely rewarding, you would be helping to even out the field so these people could receive the equitable care they deserve

Great, thanks for the info. I am seriously considering it; my school lets us do full time internship instead of taking classes and I could do this for next year... I don't know if maybe this would be viable or not but I will ask.

The only difficulty would be taking the class for interpretation which is expensive and around 50 hours or so... but that's something I would consider doing.

Would my skills as a medical interpreter translate over to when I become a physician? Would have I have 'retrain' my Spanish, or is it even that useful for physicians to have the skill to speak Spanish if there are interpreters?

 

[Deleted member 737595]

Hey, so I am a full time spanish medical interpreter for a hospital, after having doing it since I was a freshman in undergrad

In terms of whether it is actually worth it, it is good clinical experience especially if you can get a job at a medium-large size hospital with many different specialties. As far as I know there are a lot of people who volunteer to be Spanish medical interpreters, but not that many with actual qualifications to be one. I can tell you that there is a difference between actually knowing the terminology vs being fluent. If you decide to take a class in that, that would be looked upon more favorable and would give more credibility to your spanish medical skills. But, rather than thinking whether adcoms would love it or not think about what your goals are and if that particular experience would help in your goals.

Is this your gap year job if your working full time?

I know it would be incredibly rewarding because any time I speak in Spanish to patients in the ED, they seem elated to have someone who speaks their native tongue and I have a blast talking with them. I know its not all about what ADCOMs will think, but if I decide to work it full time for a period I want to at least make sure that it would be valuable clinical experience and worth my time vs simply volunteering once a week. Then again, it would definitely be rewarding for me and if I work it would be paid which is great. But I would also want to do it as a volunteer where I currently am to serve in a more focused role while I am there.

 

[HuskyMD Emeritus]

To be a certified interpreter, you need to pass an exam. In California, for patients who are nonEnglish speaking, you must have a certified interpreter. If the patient prefers to have a family member interpret, it needs to be documented in the progress note, and you need to document the patient was offered interpretation services. A child family member under 18 cannot serve as interpreter. If the physician speaks the same language, then interpretation is not needed, even if the physician is not a certified interpretation.
At the medical center where I work, we use an interpretation service via video, much better than the previous use of the Language Line.

 

[Incursio]

Great, thanks for the info. I am seriously considering it; my school lets us do full time internship instead of taking classes and I could do this for next year... I don't know if maybe this would be viable or not but I will ask.

The only difficulty would be taking the class for interpretation which is expensive and around 50 hours or so... but that's something I would consider doing.

Would my skills as a medical interpreter translate over to when I become a physician? Would have I have 'retrain' my Spanish, or is it even that useful for physicians to have the skill to speak Spanish if there are interpreters?

That could be something you could do. There should be some classes if you look around depending on your area, the one i took was offered every saturday for part of a school semester, gave up my saturdays, but well worth it.

Yes, your skills would definitely translate, but usage depends on your patient population (and of course on what you learned as an interpreter). In particular language skills will translate if you see Spanish-speaking only types of patient (and mind the variation in dialects and words as well as cultures), but even if you do not see these populations, you still learn how to advocate for your patients and help them "have a voice" and consider their perspective when planning treatment by all the cultural awareness you develop in the process.

From a realistic standpoint, the availability of interpreters is a bit of a problem sometimes. Depending of course on the language (supply), and the demand for that language. Lets say you work at a hospital that gets a lot of patients that speak only Spanish, then the demand would be large and sometimes we cannot supply enough interpreters at that exact moment in time (hence delays). So in those kind of situations its great to have a physician that knows the language and the terminology in the patient's native language. BUT KEEP NOTE, WHETHER YOU WILL BE "ALLOWED" TO USE THOSE SKILLS OR NOT DEPENDS ON YOUR WORKPLACE'S POLICY, by this I mean that certain places don't let you talk to them in their own language EVEN if you are fluent in their native language unless you have a certification that shows you are proficient in that language (like a medical interpreting certification on that language) because of liability issues I assume.\

BTW, I am doing this as a gap year job (currently waiting on my WL haha), but plan to use the skills I learned here and pursue medical interpreting certification in my other languages as well.

 

[IWillMakeIt1]

I will give my perspective here since I have been working as an interpreter since 2014. I was a volunteer medical interpreter for 2 months before I was hired. I am from NYC so interpreters have to be certified in order to step in that role. MEDICAL INTERPRETATION IS THE MOST REWARDING EXPERIENCE EVER.

I took a ceritificarion course, “Bridging the Gap medical interpretation” 65 hours course. I worked full time at one of the most prestigious hospital in the country. Medical interpretation requires:

1) Excellent knowledge of medical terminology in English as well as in your own tongue Language.

2) knowledge of the culture as your role will be to break the cultural barrier between physicians and patients

3) be able to advocate for patients when necessary.

Medical interpretation will provide you with clinical experience, shadowing experience, and more medical knowledge. Things get really complicated at times. You will see the good part and the worst part of medicine. Sometimes you have to be there in the pre-holding areas before patients go into the OR at 5:30 am. It is a very unique experience. I have interpreted for almost every physician in the hospital. You will learn how to tell bad news and tell a family that their father passed away...

I was asked about my experience in every interview I had. I encourage you to do it and get certified. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. (Plus it’s well paid >55k)

 

[Deleted member 737595]

I will give my perspective here since I have been working as an interpreter since 2014. I was a volunteer medical interpreter for 2 months before I was hired. I am from NYC so interpreters have to be certified in order to step in that role. MEDICAL INTERPRETATION IS THE MOST REWARDING EXPERIENCE EVER.

I took a ceritificarion course, “Bridging the Gap medical interpretation” 65 hours course. I worked full time at one of the most prestigious hospital in the country. Medical interpretation requires:

1) Excellent knowledge of medical terminology in English as well as in your own tongue Language.

2) knowledge of the culture as your role will be to break the cultural barrier between physicians and patients

3) be able to advocate for patients when necessary.

Medical interpretation will provide you with clinical experience, shadowing experience, and more medical knowledge. Things get really complicated at times. You will see the good part and the worst part of medicine. Sometimes you have to be there in the pre-holding areas before patients go into the OR at 5:30 am. It is a very unique experience. I have interpreted for almost every physician in the hospital. You will learn how to tell bad news and tell a family that their father passed away...

I was asked about my experience in every interview I had. I encourage you to do it and get certified. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. (Plus it’s well paid >55k)

Wow, that is a great experience from what it sounds. I am definitely looking into this. I hadn't really thought of this and was planning on doing same ole same ole research, which I don't really like that much. This seems like something way more fulfilling with more activity. I will let you know if I have any questions.

So basically, you were on call some days? Like for the OR at 5:30 am? How do you decide hours, what is the day-to-day like?

 

[OddNath]

Yes, I would do it as a volunteer, probably at the hospital where I currently volunteer. I was just wondering whether or not it would be a good use of time. What draws me to it is playing an active role in the hospital without too much commitment like CNA or EMT. Also, the physician shadowing part is great. Did you count this as shadowing?

It is volunteering AND shadowing, but better than shadowing- you would be taking an *active role* in every patient encounter, instead of awkwardly standing in a corner. I’ve done admissions in the past, and it just makes for a much more interesting interview conversation when applicants have active experiences like this.

And, from a less cynical/practical standpoint- it sounds like it can be incredibly rewarding. And, if you’re like me and do even part of your training in Texas, it will be an extremely useful skill for the future! Interpreters aren’t always available.

 

[Deleted member 737595]

It is volunteering AND shadowing, but better than shadowing- you would be taking an *active role* in every patient encounter, instead of awkwardly standing in a corner. I’ve done admissions in the past, and it just makes for a much more interesting interview conversation when applicants have active experiences like this.

And, from a less cynical/practical standpoint- it sounds like it can be incredibly rewarding. And, if you’re like me and do even part of your training in Texas, it will be an extremely useful skill for the future! Interpreters aren’t always available.

If I can get clearance from my adviser I will definitely seek out a medical interpreter job! I can finally be of use, AND get patient interaction, AND shadow physicians, AND possibly get paid $$$