LOST-AND-FOUND-IN-TRANSLATION stories in health care are more frequent in the media these days — for a variety of reasons. However, many of them are basic in their contents, for their primary intent is to inform the general public. We certainly do not want to take away from that noble intent, but we do want to recommend a story in The New York Times that is different. If any of the following quotes taken from the story have any significance to you, you must read the story. Click here. "Disparities exist, in part, because of a lack of access to trained medical interpreters and translation services. But according to a new study published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine, doctors’ assumptions about communication — what they deem important in a conversation — may also have a role." "So the use of interpreters may have more to do with how we [doctors] think about communication with our patients and less to do with our views on interpreters, limited English proficiency patients or even time pressures." "This is where humility and compassion and professionalism all come together." Click here to go to The New York Times. If you would like to send a comment or reply to this or any other discussion topic on this page, please log in first and then click "Discuss this topic" immediately after the topic. All comments are subject to editorial review.

(Edited by Carlos Vargas - original submission Friday, April 24, 2009, 12:41 PM)

THE CITY COLLEGE of San Francisco's Health Care Interpreter Certificate Program is inviting bilingual individuals who are interested in facilitating linguistic and cultural communication between patients and health care providers to attend their next orientation session. Enrollment details and applications for the fall 2009 term will be available upon completion of the orientation. All languages are welcome; however, speakers of Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Spanish are especially invited. DETAILS: Monday, April 20, 2009, 6–9 p.m. Saint Francis Memorial Hospital 900 Hyde Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94109 For more information, please call (415) 452-5152 E-mail: ngoodfri@ccsf.edu Click on the above icon to download an orientation flyer. If you would like to send a comment or reply to this or any other discussion topic on this page, please log in first and then click "Discuss this topic" immediately after the topic. All comments are subject to editorial review.

(Edited by Carlos Vargas - original submission Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 02:22 PM)

THE FOLLOWING STORY PUBLISHED TODAY (03/04/09) by The Nica Times, a Central American English-language newspaper, caught our attention. --By Tim Rogers A team of traditional indigenous healers and regional health authorities from the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) trekked out to visit three rural Miskito communities along the Río Coco on Tuesday to investigate reports of an outbreak of a mysterious collective hysteria, known as “grisi siknis,” or “crazy sickness.” Centuriano Knight, the regional health coordinator for the RAAN, told The Nica Times yesterday in a phone interview that 34 people have reportedly fallen ill with grisi siknis in the river community of Santa Fe, seven people in the nearby community of Esperanza and two in the neighboring community of San Carlos. The outbreak of grisi siknis, which has no scientific explanation, is the largest case of collective hysteria since a massive outbreak in the RAAN community of Raití in 2003. Though doctors, anthropologists and sociologists have all studied previous cases, no one has been able to explain the phenomena, Knight said. Traditional healers and witches have explained the mysterious illness with different theories ranging from a curse to incomplete witchcraft. The strange illness apparently affects young people more than old, putting people in a strange trance and apparently giving them super-human strength, according to Knight and other witnesses. “A 15-year-old girl with siknis can overpower six or seven men,” Knight said. “The men can't detain her, and have to tie her up in bed sheets.” Knight said the illness doesn't necessarily make people violent, but it does make them hysterical. Many of the affected will take off running madly, and other villagers can't stop them, he said. Sometimes, however, grisi siknis can turn violent. In the case of Raití in 2003, some of the affected people ran around town with machetes trying to cut others. Knight said the mysterious illness has existed in the indigenous communities since the 1960s, but had disappeared for years until the 2003 outbreak. The illness apparently only affects indigenous Miskito and Mayagna populations. In 2004, the illness was cured by a local healer who treated it with herbs and other natural medicines. The three local healers sent to the communities Tuesday will employ the same techniques, Knight said. If you would like to send a comment or reply to this or any other discussion topic on this page, please log in first and then click "Discuss this topic" immediately after the topic. All comments are subject to editorial review.

(Edited by Carlos Vargas - original submission Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 03:11 PM)

[02/03/2009] THANKFULLY WE DIDN'T HAVE to go far to find out what happened to the National Coalition on Health Care Interpreter Certification (NCC) since we last reported on the national certification process for health care interpreting (see the following article). Last Friday the California Healthcare Interpreting Association's Update newsletter circulated NCC's news release, describing NCC's activities just a couple of days after we got the surprising announcement that the Language Line University and the International Medical Interpreters Association were collaborating on their own, patent-pending certification process. Thankfully, again, NCC is alive and well and has as it claims in the news release, "stepped up its ambitious plan to develop a single national process for the assessment, training, testing, and certification of healthcare interpreters." The group's meeting on Jan. 22-23 also included the adoption of a policy requiring members to submit proprietary tests and materials for evaluation and prospective adoption of elements into a single process. NCC member Fredrick D. Hobby, President, Institute for Diversity in Health Management of the American Hospital Association says that they are working on a road map that ensures the quality of the process. Mr. Hobby was quoted as saying, "The group has been very transparent in their discussions as they sort through years of literature and their own experiences to produce the most appropriate, equitable and consensus-based resources available to the thousands of bilingual speakers serving our nation's patients." Karin Ruschke of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) said, "We're not out to simply review or endorse any of the existing tests or training programs. Our goal is to gather the best practices from our varied coalition members, then build on that to develop elements of an open and transparent certification process that can be adopted nationally." LanguageCulture will continue to provide updates on the development of this process as it deeply concerns all interpreter educators and students. If you would like to send a comment or reply to this or any other discussion topic on this page, please log in first and then click "Discuss this topic" immediately after the topic. All comments are subject to editorial review.

(Edited by Carlos Vargas - original submission Thursday, February 5, 2009, 09:40 PM)

By Carlos Vargas Site Editor [01/23/2009] This is how I have come to understand the professional certification process for health care interpreters. There were three independent national certification efforts underway by last September. National Coalition on Health Care Interpreter Certification (NCC) International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) Language Line University However, yesterday Language Line University announced that IMIA has joined their effort and will together launch a joint national Certification for Medical Interpreters(CMI). I am not clear what this does to the NCC yet, but I intend to find out. According to the NCC Report of a Sept. 20-21, 2008 meeting in Minneapolis, Language Line and IMIA representatives spoke of their certification efforts and history of working to develop tools for testing and certifying interpreters. The report states, "During the lengthy and energetic discussion, both organizations stated that they are committed to pursuing their individual certification efforts, but completely support the work of the NCC and are willing to share as much of their efforts as possible with the Coalition." From this I gather that the process is now firmly in the (private-public?) hands of yesterday's newly formed collaborative. Interestingly, a couple of months before the September meeting, the Language Line University had formed a coalition known as the Global Advisory Council, and it is through this partnership that we get PSI in December and subsequently the request we all got to participate in the job analysis that will determine the (certification) test format and content. PSI is running the survey on SurveyMonkey. To me the growing importance being given to a national or state certification through an exam process is a reflection of new professional attitudes towards the work of health care interpreters. I think this is exciting. However, I think we need to to ask as many questions as we can because it sure seems that we're giving the private sector full rein in this matter. And, much of what we know is what Language Line University is telling us through its press releases. I think it's time people start getting informed. The power gap between those running the show and the average health care/medical interpreter is simply huge. Other voices need to be heard. Finally, we know a patent is pending, and if I understand how patents work, it means that people who come up with other exams for the same or similar purpose can be sued. If you would like to send a comment or reply to this or any other discussion topic on this page, please log in first and then click "Discuss this topic" immediately after the topic. All comments are subject to editorial review.

(Edited by Carlos Vargas - original submission Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 03:15 PM)