Spanish-English Health Care Interpreter Training

This Health Care Interpreter Training course meets the formal education requirements for your OHA Oregon Health Care Interpreter credential.

Health Care Interpreter Training

In this online and onsite Health Care Interpreter course, you'll learn everything you need to be successful in your work.

Geared toward rural interpreters, this 64-hour hybrid training program covers:

health care interpreting ethics
consecutive and simultaneous interpreting
remote interpreting skills
performance evaluation for constructive feedback to peers

You will learn medical terminology in English and Spanish, and you'll gain the skills necessary to interpret in both simultaneous and consecutive modes in a medical setting.

Building a Career

At the end of the course, you will learn how to take your interpreting skills and build a career in this needed space.

This course is designed to meet the Oregon Health Authority’s training requirements for health care interpreters, and you will be guided through the process of completing applications to be added to the OHA Registry of Certified and Qualified Health Care Interpreters.

CAREER INSIGHT

We will spend time comparing work as a freelancer and work as an employee, and will talk about work opportunities supporting EOCCO patients in particular.

Finally, this program offers weekly one-on-one interpreting opportunities with its instructors to gain real-world experience with the support of a mentor. After completing the training course, you will have confidence in your ability to put what you have learned into practice in the medical field.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. Distinguish between, identify when to use, and perform:

Simultaneous
Consecutive
Sight Translation
Basic written translation

2. Demonstrate foundational interpreting skills, including:

Message conversion skills and discourse analysis
Clear and understandable speech delivery
Target language equivalence (e.g., expletives, idioms, and colloquialisms)
Ability to identify differences in meaning due to regional dialects
Ability to maintain and change voice register at varying levels of formality
Memory skills (e.g., chunking, prediction, visualization, note-taking, and active listening)
Self-monitoring and self-assessment
Cultural competency (what culture is and how it affects health and health care)

3. Identify and apply ethical principles to which health care interpreters must adhere.

4. Interpret medical terms accurately, by:

Learning basic anatomy and physiology and medical terminology
Identifying and using reliable sources to look up unfamiliar terms
Asking for clarification appropriately

5. Understand the national and state credentialing and renewal process for health care interpreters.

EXAMPLE COURSE SCHEDULE

The course is made up of 64 training hours and includes: 16 hours in-person, 4 hours synchronous Zoom sessions, and 44 hours self-paced online.

Example 2024 Schedule

• Week 1 (Module 0)
• Week 2 (Module 1)
• Week 3 (Module 2)

Module 1-2 in-person session (in Hermiston): 8 am - 12pm PST on Friday
• Week 4 (Module 3)

Module 3 Zoom session: 12pm - 2pm PST on Friday
• Week 5 (Module 4)
• Week 6 (Module 5)

Module 4-5 in-person session (in Hermiston): 8am - 5pm on Friday
• Week 7 (Module 6)

Module 6 Zoom session: 12pm - 2pm Friday
• Week 8 (Module 7)
• Week 9 (Module 8)

Module 7-8 in-person session (in Hermiston): 8am - 12pm on Friday

Course Overview

During the eight weeks, we will cover:

Week 1 - Introduction to Interpreting

Week 2 - Interpreting in the Health Care Setting

Week 3 - Ethics

Week 4 - Interpreting Skills (interpreting in consecutive mode)

Week 5 - Interpreting Skills (interpreting in simultaneous mode)

Week 6 - Memory for Interpreters

Week 7 - Note-taking

Week 8 - Next Steps: Working as a Health Care Interpreter

After Course - Shadowing

Health Care Interpreter Prerequisites

Before entering the course, you must have:

● A high school diploma or GED.

● Proof of language proficiency in English and Spanish. Examples of acceptable proof of language proficiency can be found here.

If you need to obtain proof of language proficiency, please register for the course at least one month prior to the start date.

Program Partnership

This course was developed in partnership with the College of Public Health and Human Services with funding from EOCCO.

Fall 2024

Nine weeks | Asynchronous
Online and in Hermiston, OR

Online and Onsite

$912 ($114 per module)
$630 ($78.75 per module)
for students in Eastern Oregon Counties (Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, or Wheeler)

$108 Language proficiency is required. If you do not have proof of proficiency, please select the test when registering.

912

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Additional Information: Location of in-person class days:
2121 S 1st St, Hermiston, OR 97838

Instructors

Felicity Ratway

Felicity Ratway has a Master’s degree in Interpreting and Translation Studies from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. She has been working as an interpreter in Oregon since 2015, and has experience as both an employee and a freelance interpreter.

Felicity has taught a number of continuing education courses for interpreters on topics ranging from medical marijuana to advocacy in interpreting. She has presented at conferences including the International Medical Interpreters Association Conference, the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters Conference, and the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association Conference.

Ryan Popma

Ryan is a certified Spanish healthcare interpreter with extensive experience in language access since 2016. He achieved national certification from CCHI and OHA in 2017 and holds an MA in translation and interpretation from Wake Forest University (2019). Proficient in in-person, telephonic, and virtual modalities, he is dedicated to delivering accessible healthcare services to limited English proficient patients across Oregon.

Past Students' Work

Take a look at some recent projects our students have created.