New Joint Commission Standard Defines Medical Interpreters

Similarly, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which protects the rights of individuals with disabilities, requires healthcare organizations that receive federal funds to provide effective communication for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Many hospitals subscribe to a telephone interpreting service because of the many languages for which they may have to be responsible. Similarly, because of the lack of one national standard, many facilities had to rely on bilingual staff members who could serve as an interpreter in addition to their normal duties—and many still do.

"What many people don't understand is that in order to be a professional, you have to accurately and completely interpret what has been said," says Marc Friedman, interpreter coordinator at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. "People who are not practiced in the profession are not accustomed to capturing what has been said."

In addition, the practice of using children as interpreters for their parents or relatives is not only dangerous because of the potential lack of understanding of what the patient has said, but because of the situation in which the child is placed.

A great deal of research has been conducted on the link between language proficiency and adverse events. Joint Commission researchers, funded by The Commonwealth Fund, found that LEP patients were more likely to experience an adverse event than English-speaking patients.

"Language Proficiency and Adverse Events in U.S. Hospitals: A Pilot Study," which was published in the International Journal for Quality in Healthcare in 2007, found that more communication-related adverse events were reported for LEP patients than English-speaking patients.

Certification will change the field
The NBCMI's certification has been developed by a 12-member board and is administered by PSI, a national testing agency. The test comprises a written and oral exam. In this way, the NBCMI is following the National Commission for Certifying Agencies' accreditation guidelines and hopes to become accredited by 2011.

"Unless we have a regulated profession, we're not going to change healthcare quality in this country," says Arocha. "It affects all of the other services. If the provider and specialist is going to be accountable for that patient, they need to know what that patient is saying."