Medical certification again...

Christina Paiva wrote:

If you're already an MD Physiscian, you have to take a series of tests before you are allowed to get near a patient. You can still work for a Master, PhD or higher degrees at Medical Schools and Universities, but not with patients. I guess this is a a worldwide policy.

My brother, who is a professor at a Medical School, took a leave to get his Post Doctorate in the US and he could only do lab work (this was his objective anyway)and visit patients accompanied by a colleague. His wife, a very experienced nurse, volunteered at a Hospital, but could not do much...
I've also translated some documents for a client who is currently working at a Hospital there. So it's feasible

IMHO, Schools/Hospitals in NY, Boston and in the State of California are the best. But, you should focus on the field you wish to specialize/work, search the web for info, contact specialists in the area, get your documents translated and pack

Godspeed!

sokolniki wrote:

.. I've been working as medical interpreter (through a major translation agency in Houston which has agreements on interpretation services with all or most of the hospitals here - I worked primarily for MD Anderson) for more than five years. There has never been a requirement for specific medical certification for interpreters, at least in my case.

In-house translators in hospitals are quite rare and primarily work in the language pair in biggest demand (understandably, Spanish in Texas).

There is an initiative coming from local TI associations to establish certification of health care interpreters - http://www.mmia.org/uploads/pages/195.pdf -, however it seems to be at the very initial stage. Many states as you will see have their own associations of healthcare interpreters.

The University of Arizona National Center for Interpretation - http://nci.arizona.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30&Itemid=36 - offers some brief courses for medical interpreters.

Hope this will help.

Javier Wasserzug wrote:

All you need to do here is to take a test. Two parts, written and oral. Then, you get certified as a medical or social interpreter.
It doesn't really matter if you are certified in any other way, have college dregrees or take courses regularly. If you say the real name of a condition or leave it in English. Here, if you are never late and no one complaints too much, you get assigments.

Paul Turchaninoff wrote:




This is actually valuable information! So what you are saying is that it is not necessary to get certified if you want to work as a medical interpreter at a hospital through a translation agency.

My plan was to get certified and to get a full-time job with a hospital. However, I am now having second thoughts about it after your remark about the rarity of such positions.

So how often do you get such assignments through your agency?

[Edited at 2009-03-06 08:00 GMT]