Interpreter Training

Core Medical Interpreter Training® Program & Workshops

CMIT® program and workshops provides students with intensive training to prepare them for a medical or healthcare interpreting career and national certification.

Introduction

CMIT® is a flexible 100-hour program that covers strategies for effective communication between different cultures in medical or healthcare settings. The training includes twelve hours of medical terminology, anatomy, and physiology, eight hours on the three major Codes of Ethics (CHIA, IMIA, NCIHC), and intensive role-playing to gain and practice new skills and significantly improve patient safety. Our goal is to promote national best practice standards in professional medical interpreting for all limited-English proficient patients requiring assistance. CMIT’s® goal is to help explain the basic components of this relatively new profession using a variety of approaches in a didactic order, including some of the newest developments in the field, such as the incorporation of mobile devices for interpreting services, and the trends in national certification. As of 2017, the seven languages that are available for national certification are Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Vietnamese, and Spanish. While people have been interpreting for family, neighbors, and friends for millennia, the medical or healthcare interpreting profession is less than 40 years old. As a wave of new immigrants arrived in the United States in large numbers throughout the mid-1970’s, interpreters and others involved in health care began to realize that interpreting a message effectively is not the same as being bilingual. Knowing two languages is just the starting point. It is crucial for the medical or healthcare interpreter to understand the meaning behind the words spoken by patients and their families, and clarify the meaning of the message and cultural context as necessary, in order to achieve the best results for patients and providers of health care. From the beginning, interpreters are pointed to the importance of the innumerable variations of cultural approaches to health and well-being that are at play in interpreted sessions.

Background

CMIT® is an academic program that responds to the growing need to improve the quality of training for interpreters in healthcare settings and to prepare individuals to pass the national certification exams.

CMIT® is an interactive program that provides a 256-page color textbook, a 196-page workbook, multimedia-rich lesson presentations, and periodic lesson and resource updates.

CMIT® was created by interpreters, interpreter trainers, and language access providers with more than 40 years of combined experience in the profession.

CMIT® is currently being taught in seven states, including the state of Oregon, which requires the highest standards of training for medical or healthcare interpreters, and in colleges/universities.

CMIT® is also now available from an online education platform, NICHC eLearning, providing prospective students with more scheduling opportunities and learning environments.

Bibliography

Flores, G., Abreu, M., Pizzo Barone, C., Bachur, R., & Lin, H. (2012). Errors of Medical Interpretation and their potential clinical consequences: A comparison of professional versus ad hoc versus no interpreters. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 545-553.

Ku, L., & Flores, G. (2005). Pay Now or Pay Later: Providing Interpreter Services in Health Care. HealthAffairs, 435-444.

Flores, G. (2006, July 20). Language barriers to health care in the United States. The New England Journal of Medicine, 355(3), 229-231. Retrieved from http://mighealth.net/eu/images/b/bb/Flores3.pdf

Background

CMIT® is an academic program that responds to the growing need to improve the quality of training for interpreters in healthcare settings and to prepare individuals to pass the national certification exams.

CMIT® is an interactive program that provides a 256-page color textbook, a 196-page workbook, multimedia-rich lesson presentations, and periodic lesson and resource updates.

CMIT® was created by interpreters, interpreter trainers, and language access providers with more than 40 years of combined experience in the profession.

CMIT® is currently being taught in seven states, including the state of Oregon, which requires the highest standards of training for medical or healthcare interpreters, and in colleges/universities.

CMIT® is also now available from an online education platform, NICHC eLearning, providing prospective students with more scheduling opportunities and learning environments.

Upcoming Dates

This virtual program is offered to bilingual or multilingual individuals, who are either currently working in health care or are interested in obtaining an entry-level credential in the field. The training covers all basic aspects of interpreting in healthcare, including the roles, modes, ethics, and current professional and regulatory guidelines.

Cost: $800

Instructors: Sofí DiSepio, Katie Alves, Debi Saldaña, and Gerardo Lazaro

REQUISITE

Proof of linguistic proficiency for working languages (English – target language)

Proof of Proficiency & Registration Deadline:

2024 Schedule Coming Soon!

Saturdays (4) & Sundays (4)

Time: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm ET

Tuesdays (11) & Thursdays (10)

Time: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm ET

Tuesdays (11) & Thursdays (10)

Time: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm ET

Workshop Offerings

Continuing Education Units

The NICHC offers skill-building and informational workshops for Medical/Healthcare Interpreters. The workshops provide 2 (two) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) sanctioned by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI), and 0.2 CEUs sanctioned by the National Board for Certified Medical Interpreters (NBCMI).

Asthma

This workshop is intended to review the causes and management of Asthma for limited-English proficient patients, practice diagnosis and management scenarios, and learn some of the most important medications used to control asthma.

Diabetes

This workshop is intended to update medical interpreters on diabetes types, its causes, figures and facts, and learn how to handle a medical encounter that involves this chronic disease.

Genetics

This workshop is intended to update medical interpreters on the basic concepts of genetics, figures and facts, most common diseases, and learn how to handle a medical encounter that involves this topic.

Kidney Failure

This workshop is intended to update medical interpreters on kidney failure, its causes, figures and facts, and learn how to handle a medical encounter that involves this chronic disease.

Organ Transplantation

This workshop is intended to update medical interpreters on organ transplantation, its causes, figures and facts, and learn how to handle a medical encounter that involves encounters before and after this procedure.

Consecutive Interpreting

This workshop is intended to help medical interpreters build their consecutive Interpreting using a mathematical index (Keyword Index) to track and improve their listening and memory skills.

Sight Translation

This workshop is intended to help medical interpreters build their sight translation skills using cognitive, reading and memory skills.

Bibliography

Flores, G., Abreu, M., Pizzo Barone, C., Bachur, R., & Lin, H. (2012). Errors of Medical Interpretation and their potential clinical consequences: A comparison of professional versus ad hoc versus no interpreters. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 545-553.

Ku, L., & Flores, G. (2005). Pay Now or Pay Later: Providing Interpreter Services in Health Care. HealthAffairs, 435-444.

Flores, G. (2006, July 20). Language barriers to health care in the United States. The New England Journal of Medicine, 355(3), 229-231. Retrieved from http://mighealth.net/eu/images/b/bb/Flores3.pdf

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