Interpreter

Becoming a Medical Interpreter

This page is provided as a resource page and does not represent any particular Medical Interpreting school or course.

Below you will find many educational links for the practice of a Medical Interpreter. All information in this page are for educational purposes and to provide insights in the Medical Interpreter career.

The Medical Interpreting field is achievable if:

You like to communicate and have dominion in two languages.
For example, if you are going to interpret for Spanish speakers and English speaking medical personal, then it is most beneficial if you are a Spanish or Hispanic native.
You must KNOW the Spanish or Hispanic cultures, jargon and cultural particularities of the different Spanish or Hispanic cultures.
You want to be a lifetime learner of medical concepts, human body concepts and physiology.
It is very useful to be familiar with the use of computers in order learn more.
Most states are now requiring the that medical interpreter get formal training to become a Qualified and Certified Medical Interpreter.
Develop sharp memory memory skills.

This page gives an insight of the medical interpreter work. If you wish to become a medical interpreter, you need to locate the resources for medical interpreter at the location you live in.

Requirements for Becoming a Qualified and Certified Medical Interpreter

The link below describes the requirements for becoming a Qualified and Certified Medical Interpreter. In this link you will notice that the person that wish to attain the qualification or certification for Medical Interpreter is required to take a 60 hours of training.

Oregon Health Care Interpreter Program Requirements

The following link gives insight of how to become a medical interpreter.

Informational Link: How to Become a Hospital Interpreter

The task of the Medical Interpreter is very similar in regards that interpreter is the voice of both the patient and the doctor, or the medical professional such as a nurse, therapist, etc.

Becoming a Medical Interpreter is a learning and practice journey. What does it take become a Medical Interpreter?

The following link provides a great resource to understand what it takes to become a Medical Interpreter. You will need to learn and master various skillset and knowledge in order to become a skilled and effective Medical Interpreter. The reason for the knowledge of medical terminology and the underlying medical concepts is so that the medical interpreter can relate to the issue at hand and be familiar with the language the doctor or medical provider uses.

Insights of What is Involved in being a Medical Interpreter

A medical interpreter likes to learn about the medical field and medical terminology and likes the health science field.
To be a professional and certified medical interpreter you will need to learn the topics in the next section.
Most medical interpreters are self-employed.
A typical day of a medical interpreter may consist in three to five interpreting appointments, which you schedule with the agency you work with. The appointments may be less or more depending in the amount of appointment you wish to have.
The medical interpreter arranges his/her own schedule with the agency they work for. These appointments may start in the morning and you may schedule appointments until you wish in that day.
Appointments are not necessarily contiguous in time. For example, my appointments may be one at 10AM, one at 2pm, and one at 4pm.
You are payed for the appointments you complete, not for the interim hours.
The average rate per hour for a medical interpreter in the USA is $25.40, based on Indeed.com on 6/5/2021.
Be aware that typically, a Medical Interpreter works as an independent contractor, the hours are not contiguous, the different companies in USA have differences in the way the manage the business and their interpreters.
For example, you may have 3 or 5 appointments per day but these appointments can be spread out. For example: 1st appt at 10am, 2nd at 11:30am, 3rd at 1pm, and 4th at 3pm.
It does have the advantage that you can deduct the miles used for the appointments and other tax advantages. Consult your accountant.
You must base you salary and pay rate based on what that agency pays to the medical interpreter or to the certified medical interpreter.
The very nice thing is that you could start working for one agency and grow in experience and then work for two agencies.
The first thing you need to know is if you really want to be a Medical Interpreter. You should examine and hear what other medical interpreters do and know that you can be in medical setting and situations that ARE NOT EASY, such as cancer issues and that a medical interpreter can be in ANY medical type of appointment.
It IS NOT 8-5pm job, you are not typically working for a company, but are working as an Independent Contractor for the translation agency.
There are many resources on the Internet and YouTube. Get information about WHAT your state requires to become a Qualified or Certified Medical Interpreter.
Call interpreting agencies to see what steps they require for you to work with them.
NOTE: all insights provided above are for educational purposes This site does not dictate or supersedes the policies or pay rate of any agency. All pay rate are stipulated by the agency you may work for.

The information that follows is my attempt to compile a complementary set of training videos. The video source is YouTube, which we could say have an almost infinite c0ntents. I have attempted to compile of the best resources out there, which can be used for the learning and reviewing the concepts for the Medical Interpreter test.

NOTE: The content below DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE THE FORMAL 60 Hours of Medical Interpreter training. But could help easing the student before take the formal course.

Education Recommended for Medical Interpreter

Become a Qualified or Certified Health Care Interpreter

Below is a sample contents of the training program from the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association (OHCIA), which is 60-Hour Health Care Interpreter Training. Source: http://ohcia.org/. Copy the link at the left to get their latest course schedule.

The list below will be updated with links to pages that contain useful resources and videos on the topics that are listed.

Module 1: Introduction to Health Care Interpreting & Medical Terminology
Module 2: Musculoskeletal System/Fundamentals of Message Conversion
Module 3: Cardiovascular System and Respiratory System/Developing Memory Skills
Module 4: Nervous and Integumentary Systems/Basic Sight Translation
Module 5: Health Care Interpreting Ethics I
Module 6: Ethics II/Endocrine & Lymphatic Systems
Module 7: Digestive and Teeth/Interpreting Equivalence
Module 8: Reproductive and Urinary Systems/Cultural Awareness
Module 9: Ears, Nose, Throat, Vision and Teeth/Advanced Interpreting Skills
Module 10: Advanced Health Care Interpreting–Final Exam

Added by TechRight Computing and Training. These are addtional modules with the purpose of of complementing Modules 1 to 10:

Module 11: Brain Subsystem
Module 12: Dental Subsystem
Module 13: Eyes Subsystem
Module 14: Medical Terminology in English
Module 15: Medical Terminology in Spanish
Module 16: Cancer Resource Videos

Selected Training Videos

The following are links to specialized and advanced training videos on more elaborated concepts that are part of the core knowledge for Medical Interpreters

The videos below have the purpose of first introducing what a Medical Interpreter is, then followed by selected Medical Terminology videos.

The content below are complementary learning for the course modules for the preparation of tests in Oregon:

Module 1: Introduction to Health Care Interpreting & Medical Terminology

Certified Medical Interpreters: Improving Patient Experience and Health Care Performance

How to Become a Medical Interpreter

Being a professional medical interpreter requires to be knowledgeable of medical terminology. You will need to know the medical terminology in English and the selected language. You will need to also know the slang that a regional group uses. In the case of a Spanish medical interpreter, you will likely need to learn the different words used for different parts of the body or names of the illnesses in regions such as Mexico, Central America, South America and Spain.

You will need to know as much as possible about the medical terminology in English. You need to know the meaning of the words, not just the word.

Stanford School of Medicine: Working with Professional Interpreters

UCLA Interpreter Services | UCLA Health

Note-taking for consecutive interpretation (Roche on Notes)

Training Videos of Actual Interpreting Sessions in Spanish

These are selected videos on actual medical interpreting sessions.

Working with an interpreter in the healthcare setting

Accurate Medical Interpreting

Interpreter Training (Clarifying)

Interpreter Training (Part 1)

Interpreter Training (Part 2)

Interpreter Training (Part 3)

Interpreter Training: Inappropriate Interpreters

5 tips for working with interpreters

4 translation skills all translators need, but most bilinguals lack!

This is an interesting video because most skills that are required to be a professional interpreter are similar to being a professional translator.

Getting Ready for the Medical Interpreter Test

The learning insights for Medical Interpreter are very similar to the Legal Interpreter, in regards to the basic testing process. The main difference of these two tests is the contents. That is, Medical Interpreter Exam will test the person on medical concepts and situations and the are very similar to the Legal Interpreter Exam will test the person on legal concepts and situations. The mechansim of the test can be similar.

Medical Interpreter Resources