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The Third National
Conference on |
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October
2 - 4, 2002, Chicago, IL |
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Preconference | Wed., October 2nd | Th., October 3rd | Fr., October 4th | | ||||||||||
Session C-5: Assessing language skills and using bilingual staff to address language barriersAre All Bilingual Staff Competent Interpreters?Being bilingual means being able to speak two languages. Being a competent interpreter means being able to render a message from one language to another in an accurate manner. In order to provide quality customer service, healthcare facilities have hired front line bilingual staff to communicate more effectively with limited-English proficient patients. However, these same bilingual employees are often called upon to provide interpretation services in patient treatment and care areas. The assumption being that because the employees are bilingual they are also knowledgeable and skilled to providing interpretation services. The facility is grateful to the employee unaware that the possibility of omissions, additions or editing can or has occurred. The administering of a language assessment exam to assess the fluency of the native language of the candidate should be required to determine the language competency of bilingual employees especially if interpreting is part of the job. The language assessment measures knowledge of medical concepts, written and sight translation, and the ability to speak fluently in the native language. The data on 114 bilingual employees who were given a language assessment exam were examined. Results indicate that very few employees are actually competent enough to render the message from one language into another. Data collected will show poor command of basic medical terminology in the target language, limited knowledge of frequently used vocabulary, poor sentence structure, misspelled words, violation of patient confidentiality and non-compliance of ethical codes. Elizabeth Colón has been actively involved in community service for over ten years. She is currently Director of Cross-Cultural Interpreting Services (CCIS), a program of Chicago Health Outreach (CHO), an affiliate partner of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights. Ms. Colón is responsible for overseeing over 120 multilingual trained interpreters who currently provide medical, mental, legal and community interpretation to health care facilities, clinics and social service agencies, schools and courts in the Chicago metropolitan area. As a trainer for Bridging the Gap, Elizabeth has provided training locally and nationally on medical and community interpreting. She provides consultation on program implementation to organizations seeking to implement language services. Elizabeth’s recent initiatives in linguistically competent care have included workshops on language access for the Limited English-speaking patient. She is an active member of the Illinois Immigrant & Refugee Task Force, the Hispanic Health Coalition of Illinois, the Hispanic Provider Council and is active in the "Patient Awareness Campaign", "I Know my Rights". Ms. Colón was also a member of the organizing committee for the first statewide medical interpreting conference, "Establishing, Improving and Expanding Language Services in Health Care Settings."
Policy Implications of Using Bilingual Staff as Medical InterpretersCook County Hospital, the largest public health care provider in the city of Chicago and the surrounding metropolitan area, has long been the safety net for poor and medically indigent patients. In the last ten years, more and more patients are limited-English proficient. In 2001, the Department of Interpreter Services at the Hospital provided language assistance services in more than 52 different languages. The Department utilized on-site staff interpreters, contract/agency interpreters, and telephone interpreters. It is often assumed that being bilingual and working in a medical environment is criteria enough to qualify hospital personnel to be a medical interpreter. The Department of Interpreter Services at the Hospital and the Ambulatory and Community Health Network (ACHN) developed a project to train bilingual personnel to function as medical interpreters. The goal of the project was to assess language proficiency/capability, teach interpreting techniques and skill building, and review professional standards for medical interpreters. Bilingual staff from several of the ACHN sites were either recommended or recruited to participate in the training program. The basic recommendation was based on either the staff being bilingual and/or acting as ad hoc interpreters for the community health centers. Each applicant was given an oral and written assessment examination prior to the course. Thirty people applied for the course. 90% (23) were accepted based on their assessment scores. Of the 23 students, 51% (12) did not successfully complete the course. Major areas of concern were omitting and editing information between the provider and the patient. Linda G. Coronado is the Director of the Department of Interpreter Services at Cook County Hospital. As the largest public Hospital in the state, the County acts as a safety net for the most vulnerable patient populations, the poor and indigent, among them a significant number of immigrants and refugees. Ms. Coronado is responsible for not only the coordination of language assistance services but also the translation on patient education and informational materials for the institution. She has been employed by the Hospital since 1984. She is also a co-instructor at Daley Community College in Chicago of the Medical Interpreting Course for the last three years. She has been an active member of the Illinois Immigrant and Refugee Task Force since 1991. As a Task Force member, Ms. Coronado was instrumental in the development of the first training curriculum for medical interpreters and the development of the first effort at a pool resource of medical interpreters in the City of Chicago. She was also a member of the organizing committee for the first statewide medical interpreting conference, "Establishing, Improving and Expanding Language Services in Health Care Settings." Ms. Coronado has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education.
Maximizing Provider Language Capability To Serve Culturally Diverse PopulationsDescription Success Challenges Lessons learned Tool Techniques
Ms. Duong is currently the Associate Director of Customer Service at CalOptima, the Orange County Medicaid (Medi-Cal) managed care program. Ms. Duong is responsible for the planning and implementation of special initiatives designed to enhance services provided to CalOptima members. Most recently, she has been responsible for the development of CalOptima’s cultural and linguistic services, incentive programs geared at increasing member utilization of preventive health services; and special programs providing custom wheelchair and related services to members with disabilities. Prior to CalOptima, Ms. Duong spent 20 years working with different refugee and immigrant communities at the local level as well as with community foundations in Southern California. Ms. Duong has a BA in Social Ecology and an MBA from the University of California at Irvine. |
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| As with the rest of Diversity Rx, this section
is a work in progress and we welcome information on other efforts, programs,
and reports that will expand upon the information offered here. Please
let us know if you have other examples to include here. |
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Diversity Rx is sponsored by: |
 The National Conference of State Legislatures |
 Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care |
 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation |
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