The MiTio Blog

The Medical Interpreting and Translating Institute Online (MiTio), today announced the close of $20mm in growth financing to drive the expansion of their Income Share Agreement program. MiTio is the nation’s oldest medical interpreter training program, and the first in the country to offer Income Share Agreements. The capital will allow MiTio to increase access to its training program and provide bilingual students the training necessary to secure a role in the certified medical interpreter industry, projected to grow 20% by 2029 - five times faster than average. Income Share Agreements demonstrate MiTio’s dedication to student success by providing outcomes-aligned financing while simultaneously opening its high-quality education and upward career mobility opportunity to low-income bilingual individuals across the United States.

If you’re interested in working as a medical interpreter, preparing for certification is a crucial part of landing a job. Here, we’ll explain the tests, explore more about the two certification bodies in the United States, and provide a list of resources to help you study and prepare.

As a medical interpreter, you’ll have a direct impact on patient care for people who do not speak English as their native language. You could work in various environments, ranging from a hospital setting to doctor’s offices, long-term care facilities, and more. You may work directly for the health care facility, or you may be hired by a third-party who will dispatch you to the facility where you are needed. 

If you are bilingual with fluency in English and Spanish, you may find fulfilling work as a Spanish medical interpreter. You may be working in a medical center or doctor's office to help medical assistants and doctors work with patients who do not speak English. Your involvement in medical interpretation helps to improve patient care and medical record keeping.

If you’re fluent in English and one or more other foreign languages, you could use your skills to improve patient care at a hospital. While many healthcare professionals may take a Spanish course, it's often not enough to get past the basics, negatively affecting patient care.

Being bilingual opens up many job opportunities for language services in a variety of fields. There is a global demand from businesses and healthcare services alike for people who are fluent in English and another language to work in a variety of positions, including at bilingual call centers, translation jobs, interpretation, localization, online teaching, and more.

A hospital interpreter provides an essential service in a hospital setting by using their skills to help patients and healthcare professionals communicate clearly and efficiently. A hospital interpreter’s role is to translate information between both parties and ensure everyone involved fully understands all diagnoses, recommendations, and treatment instructions. A hospital interpreter also must consider and communicate any cultural nuances to the medical professional, which may impact a patient’s understanding or care. 

Medical interpreters are people who work in a variety of healthcare settings. They may work onsite at a medical facility or remotely through video conferencing or by telephone. They have excellent written and verbal skills in English plus one or more target languages and the ability to provide fast, accurate consecutive interpreting. They are expected to maintain ethical standards and patient confidentiality at all times.

Being a medical interpreter is an important position to bridge the gap between medical professionals and their patients. When you work as a medical interpreter, you’ll be called in to communicate medical diagnoses and instructions, to patients and their families, and to relay news to families about their loved one’s condition, prognosis, and care.

Doctors, nurses, other health professionals, the patients and their families all rely on you for accuracy and the ability to convey information in a sensitive and compassionate manner.