Linguistic & Cultural Services Kaiser Permanente Medical Center San Francisco Diana López

Interpreter Services  CIC – Chinese Interpreter Call Center Provides phone interpretation services for the Regional Appointment & Advice Call Centers  On-Site, In-Person Interpretation Provided by KP staff  Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese Vendor interpreters  ASL, Hindi, Burmese, etc. Dedicated Cantonese/Mandarin and Spanish interpreters in the inpatient setting

Interpreter Services (con’t)  Interpreters have schedules in the mainframe system  Department staff books appointments based upon availability of interpreters  System support same day booking of interpreters  Clinical and interpreter appointments are linked  Linking functionality alerts staff to cancel interpreter at the time that clinical appt. is cancelled  Interpreters schedules are open three months in advance

Interpreter Job Requirements  Healthcare Interpreter Certificate Required from a program administered by an accredited educational institution, or one that is recognized by CHIA and exceeds 200 contact hours  Job Classifications Bilingual interpreter Multi-Lingual Interpreter Interpreter/Translator  Interpreters provide: consecutive and simultaneous interpretation and sight translation  Interpreters are union members SEIU - UHW

Interpreter Services Questionnaire  Implemented January 2009, mechanism by which language services are documented in the electronic medical record.  Scheduled outpatient appointments flagged as needing interpreter services in 2009 January – December 97,000  Booking in the mainframe system, registering interpreters in electronic medical record system and completing the ISQ gives us the ability to track the services we provide and determine unmet need

In-Patient Interpreter Services  Dedicated Cantonese/Mandarin and Spanish services began in 2008  Profile created for access to patient information re: need for language services  Cantonese/Mandarin – M-F – 7:00am -8:00pm  Spanish – M-F, 7:00am – 6:00pm  Significant improvement in HCAPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) scores  Significant increase in utilization of interpreters in the in-patient setting

Machine Translation and Video Interpretation  Received an Innovation Grant to pilot machine translation software from in the Emergency Department, Eye Care Department, Pediatrics and Pharmacy  Collaborating with GSAA and Regional Diversity to develop capacity for video interpreting

Translation Services  Translation Team provides in-house translation in Chinese and Spanish  Focus on translation of medical documents  Translation in other languages with established vendor  Using translation software – SDL –Trados for efficient translation and creation of translation memory  Team translated approximately 1800 documents in 2009

Optimization, Connection and Compliance  The ability to determine and coordinate the appropriate language resource for a given situation (in-person, phone, QBS, etc.) is essential in order to provide mandated services in a cost-effective manner  The link with interpreter training program and professional organizations is key to quality  A mechanism needs to be in place to evaluate interpreter competencies in source and target language(s), medical terminology (general and discipline specific) and service orientation prior to hiring him/her.  Providing continuing education and training is vital

Thank you!!  LCS Staff (CIC, Interpreter Services, Translation Team) and Management  Local TPMG and KFH Leadership  Mark Gaines and Gina Gregory-Burns, MD and all the members of the Diversity Steering Committee  Carolyn Wang-Kong, Practice Leader and Noemi DeGuzman, Project Manager, Regional Diversity  The City College of San Francisco Healthcare Interpreter Program Advisory Committee  Kaiser Permanente National Diversity Program