The California standards for healthcare interpreters

The California Standards for Healthcare Interpreters: Ethical Principles, Protocols, and Guidance on Roles and Intervention created by the Standards and Certification Committee of the California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA), have been in use in California since fall of 2002. The Standards document breaks new ground in its theoretical grounding in medical ethics, the use of an ethical decision-making model to resolve ethical dilemmas faced by interpreters, the guidance provided on four common medical interpreting roles, and in the extensive feedback process developed by the Association’s Standard and Certification committee (S&CC) for validating the Standards by interpreters across California. This article describes the development and validation process, highlights innovative concepts, and reports on the application of the standards in California.