Online scientific survey of job tasks for healthcare interpreters

Beginning Tuesday, January 19, healthcare interpreters have the opportunity to add their voice, professional skills and abilities to an online scientific survey of job tasks that will form the basis for developing new national certification credentials for healthcare interpreters.

“If you’re a practicing or retired healthcare interpreter, a supervisor or trainer of healthcare interpreters, go to CCHI’s website and complete the survey”

The survey will be available online at http://bit.ly/CCHI_Survey or at the website of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) at www.healthcareinterpretercertification.org. Formed last July, CCHI is moving rapidly to personally involve healthcare interpreters in the process of setting criteria for their profession’s certifications.

“If you’re a practicing or retired healthcare interpreter, a supervisor or trainer of healthcare interpreters, go to CCHI’s website and complete the survey,” encouraged Karin Ruschke, CCHI Vice-Chair for Certification. “We also hope these individuals will be energized and empowered by the experience of sharing their background of job skills and abilities on the survey that will become the foundation of CCHI certifications.”

Known as a Job Task Analysis (JTA), the survey will gather data from thousands of healthcare interpreting workers across the country about their job tasks, knowledge, skills and abilities. Individuals will be able to store their input on their computer and return later if they need more time to finish.

To develop the JTA survey, CCHI leaders carefully selected a national group of 10 healthcare interpreter subject matter experts, representing the depth and breadth of the interpreting profession, to design survey topics and questions. The JTA data will help provide the roadmap to creating a valid, credible and vendor-neutral certification program.

“Healthcare interpreters who want to be part of this vital certification building block should take the survey right away as it’s planned to remain online only until Tuesday, February 2. We also need them and all our colleagues to get the word out so even more interpreters participate in the survey,” stressed Mara Youdelman, Chair of CCHI.

“The more we know about the skills and abilities needed to do a competent job as a healthcare interpreter, the more comprehensive and thorough CCHI can be in designing certification exams and services that accurately define the healthcare interpreting profession,” Ruschke added.