International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) Develops Standards for Minimal Qualifications for Medical Interpreter Trainers

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, June 8, 2010 — IMIA has designed a very short (10 questions) survey which will provide the organization with important preliminary information from the field to establish minimal qualifications for medical interpreter educators. It is the first time this is done at a national level and the information you provide will be very useful for one necessary component to standardize medical interpreter education. This is one of many projects to standardize medical interpreter education and one that the IMIA has been working on since 2007.

Educators are hereby defined as either lead instructors of one particular curriculum (licensed trainers who are authorized to teach one specific curriculum) or lead instructors who teach interpreting courses and develop their own lesson plans and curricula. It does not include language coaches, although they play a very important role in interpreter education. Another similar survey will be disseminated soon specifically regarding minimal qualifications for language coaches.

You do not have to be a medical interpreter trainer to participate. All stakeholders: interpreters, trainers, administrators, providers and others engaged with medical interpreters; are welcome to participate. “This has been a popular topic of the monthly IMIA Trainers Circle calls,” stated Izabel S. Arocha, IMIA President. “The National Trainers Registry will be a great tool for the field, and this is the next step in developing minimal qualification standards for interpreter educators.”

This survey will assist us in creating minimal qualifications for inclusion into the upcoming IMIA National Trainers Registry. This Registry will have many purposes:

· It will be a useful tool available to all training programs seeking interpreter trainers.

· It will likewise help interpreter trainers get assignments that best suit their needs.

· This Public National Registry will also allow students to see public information about those that are their instructors.

· It will assist regulators in establishing minimum requirements for interpreter trainers in their states.

· It will assist regulators in establishing minimum requirements for interpreter trainers nationally.

To participate, simply go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J3S2JK9

If you have any comments or questions about this survey, please send them to IMIATrainersDivision@gmail.com

About the International Medical Interpreters Association

The International Medical Interpreters Association is the only national trade association committed to the advancement of professional medical interpreters as the best practice to equitable language access to health care for linguistically diverse patients. Founded in 1986, with over 2,000 members, most providing interpreting services in over 70 languages, the IMIA is the oldest and largest medical interpreter association in the country. While representing medical interpreters as the experts in medical interpreting, membership to the IMIA is open to those interested in medical interpreting and language access. We currently have a division of providers, corporate members, and trainers. Policy makers, health care administrators, and others interested in medical interpreting are also welcome to join us as associate members.