Death Changes Everything: Interpreter Practice When the Patient's Clinical Outcome is No Longer Relevant

The primary goal of healthcare interpreters is to facilitate communicative interactions for the purposes of improving the patient’s clinical outcome. This presentation invites interpreters to discuss and debate the following questions-- How is the interpreter’s primary goal impacted when the patient has died? Are interpreters at an increased risk for PTSD due to their unique role as “actor” playing the part of all grieving participants, as well as playing the part of "bearer of bad news" and feeling like an accomplice to a crime? What techniques might help protect the interpreter from the effects of interpreting before, during, and after patient death? How can we prevent interpreter burnout or retraumatizing the interpreter? What interventions might an interpreter make so as not to contribute to any unnecessary grief for the patient's loved ones who are left behind? Ultimately, we will explore all of this and how to assure our practices adhere to our field's standards of practice and code of ethics.

PRO TIP: Allow yourself 2 hours and 10 minutes to watch the entire video in one sitting to more easily receive your certificate upon completion.
CEU Credit Offering

  • OHA: Ethics, Skills, or Other

    2.00 Units

    • CCHI

      2.00 Units

    • IMIA/NBCMI

      0.20 Units

    Instructor Bio: Andrea R. Henry, CHI-Spanish

    Andrea has enjoyed working professionally in the field of healthcare interpreting for over 25 years. Most of those years have been in face-to-face interpreting of dialogue in both adult and children’s healthcare settings. Interpreting on the frontlines is her biggest joy. Additionally, Andrea has learned a great deal from many roles in this field having worked as a freelance interpreter, full-time OPI interpreter, interpreter coordinator for two healthcare organizations, interpreter trainer, full-time F2F interpreter in a level 1 trauma center, and interpreter researcher.  She has extensive experience in written translation (e.g., English > Spanish home care instructions), public speaking, and mentoring novice interpreters. Andrea’s areas of interest and expertise include specialization (e.g., pediatric cancer, pediatric heart defects, etc.), outside-the-box methods for navigating technical speech and sociolinguistic bumps, and value-added scripting for improved encounter interaction. Andrea is dedicated to moving our field forward by sharing strategies that improve communication and the patient’s clinical outcome, as well as raise our perceived value. She is strongly invested in keeping interpreters on the frontlines by raising awareness of our skill set, improving working conditions, and addressing the issue of fair pay. Andrea is the principal investigator on grant-funded research on development and validation of a tool that measures complexity and mental fatigue in the healthcare encounter. Finally, Andrea was named Commissioner for the CCHI in 2021 and is an active member of NCIHC.