The Culture Advantage Medical Interpreter's Skills Assessment (MISA) is a third-party validation of a bilingual candidate's baseline language, medical knowledge, and interpreting skills specific to the medical setting. Candidates are evaluated by bilingual healthcare professionals (MD, RN, PT, NMT, etc) and professional interpreters. Based on the level being tested, detailed reports and evaluations will be returned to the candidate or the employer. 

Who is the MISA for?

• Employers: To assess the language fluency, anatomy and general medical terminology knowledge, and medical interpreting skills of their bilingual employees who are assigned to interpret.
• Experienced interpreters: To prepare for job interview or to prepare for interpreter testing, or national certification exams.
• New interpreters: To have an assessment of their baseline skills in both languages in order to decide on the appropriate training based on their proficiency level.

Exam Description

This exam is for all languages that we offer. The exam includes:

1. Assessment of General Medical Knowledge in English.
2. Assessment of Verbal Language Skills and Medical Knowledge in the non-English language.
3. Assessment of Knowledge of Standards and Ethics for Medical Interpreters. This assessment is important because bilingual staff needs to adhere to interpreting standards and ethics per DSHS/CMS requirements.
4. Advanced Medical Terminology Exam - to qualify for Level 3. This is optional. However, any interpreter may take this exam after completing the first 3 exams.
5. Licensed Healthcare Professionals may qualify for Level 3 by completing a translation project, in addition to the language and general medical knowledge exam.

Who evaluates the candidate?

Healthcare Professionals (physicians, nurses, PTs, RTs) who speak the language pair and who have received a Professional Clinical Interpreter Certificate.
A healthcare professional may partner with a professional medical interpreter who speaks the language pair, and/or with another healthcare professional who speaks the non-English language to evaluate the fluency and accuracy of the candidate's rendition.

What report will I receive?

Bilingual Employee Testing: The report includes:

Anatomy and medical terminology Exam: Knowledge of diseases, procedures, treatments, and patient education materials in both languages.
Fluency: Presence of hesitations, self-corrections, and long pauses that affect the meaning and comprehension of the message. Correct pronunciation of terms in both languages.
Accuracy: Ability to convert the original message into the target language completely without omission, addition, editing, summarizing, or changing the meaning of the message.
Comprehension: Ability to restate the source message into the target language using knowledge of the target message's sentence structures and grammatical rules to produce a coherent message equivalent to the original.
Knowledge of the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics, which may include HIPAA, cultural knowledge and role boundaries.

*Testing of knowledge of specialty areas may be arranged with additional fee: Labor and Delivery, Diabetes, Cancer, Emergency/Trauma, ICU/CCU, Pediatrics, etc.  

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Participants may log in at any time to complete the assessments, depending on the organization.

Participants may take one exam at a time, within the testing period.

Participants have 2 or 3 weeks  to complete the assessment depending on the organization's preference.

The results will be reviewed and you will receive the results within 15 to 20 business days of exam completion. Some languages may take longer than others. The results are sent to the organization for the group, instead of 1 result at a time. If sponsored by an organization, individual results are not sent out to participants.

We only accept group registrations for 8 or more participants from organizations.Corporate discounts are available for 10 or more employees.

*Languages tested: Spanish, Arabic, Chinese Cantonese and Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese.
The exams will be evaluated and results are reported within 15 to 20 business days.

For minority languages:
Cambodian, Farsi, Pastho, Turkish, Armenian, Amharic, etc. Minority languages exam are scheduled for 2 sessions and results may take longer than 15 days. Please contact us with your specific language needs.

Detailed report on the skill-level of the candidate and recommendations:

1. Level 1: Beginner Interpreting Skills (May interpret in non-clinical settings. May interpet in clinical settings with a provider who has been trained on working with interpreters.)  
2. Level 2: General Interpreting Skills (May interpret in office and clinic settings, community or public health, general medical-surgical and outpatient setting and non-clinical settings. More advanced training is recommended for interpreting in specialty areas. However, may interpret in medical specialty areas with a provider who has been trained on working with interpreters.)
3.  Level 3: Professional Interpreting Skills (Candidate has advanced language skills, clinical knowledge and has demonstrated adherence to interpreting standards and code of ethics. May interpret in office, clinic, community or public health, outpatient and acute care medical-surgical setting and in critical care areas where candidate has documented clinical experience.) Recommended for healthcare professionals.

What is the refund policy?

There is no refund once a participant is registered. There is no refund once a participant starts and completes the first exam. However, you may substitute another staff member if a participant decides not to take the exam, or is unable to take the exam, within the first week of the assessment period.
 

Technical Requirements

1. Computer or laptop with at least Windows 10 and the most current version of the Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari. Mobile devices or tablet-type devices may not have the capability for some of the features of the assessment.

2. The computer must have audio and video capability.

3. A headset with microphone for listening and recording.

4. Participant: Ability to send, receive and send emails, download files, view PDF files, follow links, listen to audios, watch online videos.

5. If there are any technical difficulties with the exam, please take a screenshot of the page and exit the page right away. Please send the screenshot and your computer information to [email protected]. It may take at least 24 to 48 hours to process requests, therefore, we recommend not waiting until the last day of the testing period to start the assessment.

Please contact [email protected] for MISA for bilingual employees with group discount for 10 or more employees.

Thank you and we are looking forward to working with you!