June 7, 2007
 
Dear IMIA members and interpreters at large,
 
The International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) is pleased to announce the endorsement of the CHIA Standards for Healthcare Interpreters, a critical document developed in 2002 that has furthered the understanding of professional medical interpreters. This particular standard offers great insight as it describes the standards in three sections, namely:
 
1. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES FOR HEALTHCARE INTERPRETERS
 
2. STANDARDIZED INTERPRETING PROTOCOLS
 
3. GUIDANCE ON INTERPRETER ROLES AND INTERVENTIONS
 
It is particularly strong in the area of ethical decision-making, where it delineates a process model for ethical decision making with case study examples.
 
The CHIA Standards built on the work of previous standards, such as the standard developed by the IMIA in 1995 and ASTM in 2001. It is an important and useful tool for training medical interpreters. The IMIA recognizes this work as being definitive and serving as one of several valuable standard guides for the industry. We recommend that all IMIA members familiarize themselves with the CHIA Standards, as it this will greatly advance the rendering of qualified interpretation services to our culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) patients. The document is available for download free of charge on the CHIA website at http://www.chiaonline.org/?page=CHIAStandards&hhSearchTerms=standards
 
Sincerely,
 
The IMIA Executive Board

Additional Documents

>About CHIA Standards