See that big smiling happy face? Yeah, that’s me, speaking to a medical interpreting class at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, where I graduated with my Spanish degree over ten years ago! Back in my day, Spanish majors studied literature and history (I suppose they still do) but there weren’t any interpreting classes at my school. So you can imagine my excitement when I got the chance to speak to students who’re interested in interpreting, and how ethical principles apply to health care interpreting. The students had lots of great questions, like what happens when a patient or family member refuses interpreter services, even in a hospital whose policy says we have to use a hospital-approved interpreter? What happens when someone says something really rude? Are there any exceptions to the interpret everything that is said rule? That whole add nothing, omit nothing, change nothing business gets pretty sticky pretty quickly in health care. With that to chew on, I hope everyone’s off to a great start with the holiday season! Come back and visit soon-I’m working on post on must-know words and phrases for health care interpreters just starting out.
Back to School!
