Cloudbreak Health has built the award-winning Martti solution, and we hire, require education on best practices, and train the very best medical interpreters to support our clinical users and their patients. We’ve pioneered video medical interpreting for years, serving hundreds of large hospitals and thousands of clinicians and patients. So why do we engage in administering continuing education?
It’s certainly not for profits—paid online training are hardly lucrative. And it’s not some facile hobby; in fact, creating the curriculum and maintaining status as an issuer of continuing education units (CEUs) is a big lift indeed. It takes a dedicated training and quality assurance team, comprising seasoned language experts and focused on staying ahead of the curve.
We maintain a training and a continuing education program because we see the issues that come up every day and that often span different cultures. We do it because we’re so well positioned to deliver training like this, and we frequently address topics that aren’t covered elsewhere. Just look at some of the training topics we’ve tackled recently:
Interpreting Bad News
Sometimes our interpreters are the first ones to break some very difficult news to a patient about their situation. That initial moment – along with the worry and uncertainty that can follow – is so pivotal in the patient’s care journey that it merits a standalone session. It’s no easy task when everyone is speaking a single language, so imagine the importance of the role an interpreter plays in that scenario.
Interpreting Profanity
Many reading this have probably seen it before: an ASL interpreter being goaded by the puckish presenter on stage who wants to know how a curse word is signed. Sure, it gets a chuckle from the crowd, but in a medical situation, a patient’s use of profanity – be it spoken or signed – is a non-trivial part of the interaction. It can convey frustration or perhaps the intensity of the patient’s pain or emotional state.
Work / Life Balance
File under earth-shattering news: we’re not the first company to address this subject. Most businesses and every self-help section blares advice for workers on the topic of work/life balance. But work/life balance for medical interpreters is a category unto itself. Many in the interpreter community who take part in our training sessions work more than one job. But regardless of employer count, medical interpreters frequently encounter grave or stressful situations in the course of their work. So, some guidance on best practices for self-care and avoiding burnout go a long way, and in turn make trainees better interpreters.
An upcoming webinar addresses domestic violence topics for medical interpretations—a topic that is frankly difficult to address, which is why so few are doing it. Just try doing a web search for “medical interpretation domestic violence” and see what comes up. Very little, actually, that’s both recent and relevant. But domestic violence is, unfortunately, a factor in a number of medical situations and more and more interpreters are going to be called on to aid in these encounters, so we should be preparing them for those unique demands.
We speak on these topics at conferences and present continuing education sessions on these subjects because we have a wealth of experience and learnings to share. When the community of interpreters is performing better, patients are likely to do better too.
