Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 College Catalog 
    
2022-2023 College Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

TRS 161 - Medical Spanish and English Interpreting

3 Credits, 3 Contact Hours
3 lecture periods 0 lab periods

Bilingual interpreting in a medical context and setting. Includes professional responsibility and interpreter ethics, managing the interpreting encounter, healthcare terminology, the United States healthcare system, and communication through bilingual interpretations.

Information: This course assumes bilingual fluency in both English and Spanish. This course is designed and aligned with the purpose of preparing students to take the CCHI Certification exams and earn their CCHI certification.
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Course Learning Outcomes
  1. Demonstrate the ability to maintain professional responsibility and interpreter ethics.
  2. Demonstrate how to properly manage the interpreting encounter.  
  3. Demonstrate appropriate use of healthcare terminology.  
  4. Describe the United States healthcare system.  
  5. Demonstrate cultural responsiveness and sensitivity in an interpreter encounter.
  6. Communicate through bilingual interpretation both medical information and health care questions and answers.

Outline:
  1. Professional Responsibility and Interpreter Ethics
    1. Maintain the boundaries of the interpreter’s professional role by refraining from personal involvement in order to respect the needs and contributions of all parties.
      1. Apply healthcare interpreter codes of ethics and standards of practice
      2. Identify the roles of all parties in a healthcare encounter
      3. Identify the role of the interpreter and consequences if boundaries are violated
      4. Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the boundaries of the interpreter
      5. Adhere to the interpreter role while maintaining transparency
      6. Redirect patients’ questions and requests to appropriate healthcare team members
  2. Managing the Interpreting Encounter
    1. Manage the flow of communication from the start of the encounter to the end by adhering to professional standards of practice to support effective communication
      1. Healthcare interpreter codes of ethics and standards of practice
      2. Various modes of interpreting
      3. Obligations of all parties
      4. Healthcare specialties, policies, protocols, and procedures
      5. Proper positioning to support effective communication
      6. Modalities of interpreting (in-person, telephonic, video remote)
      7. Promoting direct communication between provider and patient
      8. Setting ground-rules (e.g. pre-session, pre-conference, introduction)
      9. Intervening at the least intrusive level of disruption appropriately and incrementally
      10. Monitoring for comprehension
      11. Adapting to the physical environment (e.g. positioning, lighting, volume) and modality of interpreting (in-person, telephonic, video remote)
      12. Choosing mode and switching as needed
      13. Asking for pauses
      14. Managing register and style
      15. Maintaining transparency
      16. Gathering and providing feedback after encounters
      17. Working effectively as a member of the team
    2. Manage unfamiliar terms and concepts in a manner that maintains transparency and supports effective communication for all parties
      1. Research tools and resources
      2. Techniques for intervening and clarifying
      3. Interpreting accurately and completely
      4. Matching register and style
      5. Correcting errors
      6. Maintaining transparency
      7. Asking for clarification
      8. Establishing equivalence
  3. Healthcare Terminology: Systems, Functions, and Diseases of the Body in English and Spanish
    1. Cardiovascular
    2. Respiratory
    3. Digestive
    4. Musculoskeletal
    5. Genitourinary reproductive
    6. Endocrine
    7. Immune
    8. Integumentary
    9. Nervous
  4. United States Healthcare System
    1. Familiarity with the U.S. health system
      1. Legal environment
      2. Socioeconomic environment
    2. Navigating the system effectively
  5. Cultural Responsiveness
    1. Individuals have different levels of acculturation and intra-cultural variation in order to avoid making assumptions that may misrepresent a speaker’s meaning
    2. Serve as a culture mediator by recognizing when there is risk of potential miscommunication and responding appropriately so each person’s own beliefs are expressed
  6. Communicate Through Bilingual Interpretation Both Medical Information and Health Care Questions and Answers
    1. Consecutive interpretation
    2. Simultaneous interpretation
    3. Sight translation