Medical Interpreter and a Lead Medical Interpreter

Job Summary:

Shenandoah Valley Medical System is seeking a Medical Interpreter and a Lead Medical Interpreter to provide accurate English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English interpretation and translation services for Spanish-speaking patients and families receiving care within SCH. These roles support clear communication between patients, families, providers, and staff; assist with patient access and administrative needs. 

Medical Interpreter Responsibilities:

• Participate as a neutral party and serve as a communication link between SCH staff and patients.
• Provide English-Spanish interpretation for all services and locations of SCH.
• Ensure information related to patient services, hospitalization, advance directives, consents for treatment, diagnosis and prognosis, treatment plans, follow-up appointments, and health care education is accurately communicated.
• Address patient questions and concerns regarding communicated information in a clear and effective manner.
• Provide interpreter services by conveying the exact message rather than summarizing information subjectively.
• Follow all policies and procedures related to processes, services, and employee work rules.
• Maintain confidentiality regarding patient care and visitor matters involving non-English-speaking patients, families, and escorts.
• Answer phone calls from the Spanish line and relay messages to providers, nurses, referrals, and medical records.
• Schedule, confirm, cancel, or reschedule appointments as requested by patients and SCH staff.
• Update the Electronic Health Record (EHR) as needed.
• Assist patients with completing registration and financial forms and answer questions to ensure understanding.
• Assist patients with Primary Care, Women’s Health, Pediatrics, Behavioral Health, Pharmacy, Lactation Consultant, Diabetic Education, and related questions, concerns, clarifications, and refill requests.

Lead Medical Interpreter Additional Responsibilities:

• Provide English-Spanish interpretation for all services and locations of SCH.
• Coordinate and standardize the process for connecting limited English proficiency (LEP) patients with appropriate language support services, including in-person interpretation, tele-interpretation, and other relevant interpretation modalities.
• Demonstrate cultural proficiency through values and behaviors that support effective engagement with people and groups from diverse backgrounds.
• Build and maintain interpreting schedules and arrange in-advance and on-demand interpretation requests.
• Organize and maintain SCH language access resources and workflows and act as the main point of contact for language support services at SCH.
• Provide training and education to staff as needed.
• Act as liaison between language support vendors and SCH.
• Track and monitor LEP patient experience through surveys, data reporting, observation, and other relevant methods, and implement improvements based on findings.
• Participate in local trainings and collaborative meetings that work to improve access to community services for LEP community members.
• Assist with the implementation and adoption of technological solutions for interpretation and translation services for SCH patients.
• Collect staff feedback, explore opportunities to improve language support workflows and resources, and suggest improvements based on findings.
• Route patient needs and requests as appropriate.
• Collaborate with SCH Leadership and Marketing departments to support effective patient communication.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualification & Education Requirements

• Bilingual – English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English
• High School diploma or GED;  AA preferred
• Experience working as a professional interpreter preferred
• Experience working in a healthcare setting preferred.
• Experience with communication technologies such as telephone or video remote interpreting

Essential Skills:

• Medical Interpreter Certification or Bridging the Gap highly recommended or actively working toward this.
• Successful completion of conversation/translation competency testing in secondary language, knowledge of Medical Terminology, and language proficiency test.
• Maintain strict patient confidentiality and comply with federal and state privacy laws.
• Consistently adhere to and/or exceed SCH communication guidelines and expectations with internal and external customers including co-workers, patients, and external partners
• Possess good listening and communication skills.
• Office skills including word processing, data entry, and record keeping principles.
• Possess the ability to work in a courteous and professional demeanor with patients, co-workers, and community contacts.
• Demonstrate a friendly, patient, and compassionate demeanor when dealing with people, even in difficult situations.