24/7 Access to ASL
Medical Interpreter Services

 

Did you know that MGH Medical Interpreter Services (MIS) provides American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting services 24/7? During business hours our staff ASL interpreter, Susan Muller Hershon, works closely with clinicians and patients to provide interpreting services and to coordinate the delivery of services throughout the patient’s stay in our institution.

Outside of business hours, MGH is proud to have been one of the very first institutions in the state to create and implement a night ASL interpreters on-call program. This program has now been in place for two and a half years and it ensures that all Deaf and Hard of Hearing patients seeking services at MGH, off-hours, will have access to a certified ASL interpreter. For many of these patients English is a second language that they learn later in life, and their understanding is often limited. For this reason, it is important for a certified ASL medical interpreter be present for any and all communication. MGH Medical Interpreter Services can also coordinate services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing patients who do not sign because they became deaf later in life. For these patients, services such as CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) can help. CART provides an instant translation of the clinician’s spoken word on a computer monitor.

For more information about ASL interpreters and all other medical interpreter questions please contact Anabela Nunes, manager at anunes@partners.org .

Tips to ensure that patients can fully participate in healthcare decisions:

• Remember that a patient’s stress level can be higher in a healthcare setting. Involving the services of a medical interpreter can help.
• Do not rely on lip reading or pen and paper communication – English is often a secondary language for deaf and hard of hearing patients, which hinders their ability to understand medical information by reading lips or written English. If ASL is a patient’s primary language, they can usually read and write simple sentences, but may have difficulty grasping the nuances of English.
• Do not use hand signals. Even though an occasional “thumbs up” can help a patient understand a positive message, details cannot be communicated and the patient will not have the opportunity to ask questions.
• Do not mistake a smile or nod for understanding. Patients will try to be polite by nodding and smiling to your efforts of communicating with them and they may feel embarrassed to admit that they don’t understand.
• Do not rely on family members or companions who sign. Our MGH ASL Interpreters are specially trained in ASL medical terminology, and the patient’s family or companion may not be.

Contact Information

• During MIS business hours ( Monday – Friday 7am – midnight and Weekends 8 am to 10 pm): dial 6-6966
• ASL on-call ( Outside of business hours): Beeper# 30007. The on-call ASL interpreter is only 30 minutes away.

-From: “Compliance HelpLine, Winter 2010, A Guide to Ethical and Legal Conduct at MGH – MGPO, An interdepartmental newsletter by the Compliance Department of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization”.

 

12/10