W.C. Hall is research assistant professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Public Health Sciences, and Clinical & Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. M. Elliott is American Sign Language interpreter, Clinical & Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. J.P. Cullen is research associate professor and director of diversity and inclusion, Clinical & Translational Science Institute, University of Rochester Medical Center, and assistant director, Susan B. Anthony Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.
Acad Med. 2019 May;94(5):697-700. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002570.
Deaf professionals who use American Sign Language (ASL) are a growing population in academic medicine. Reasonable accommodations for this group include providing an ASL interpreter. Many institutions contract with external agencies to provide ad hoc interpreters, but this model has hidden costs for deaf professionals and institutions.
The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (URSMD) uses the designated interpreter model in which interpreters are on staff and embedded with deaf professionals so they can learn both the work environment and the deaf professionals' specialized science and medicine content. This model addresses many of the limitations of the external agency approach and better facilitates the inclusion of deaf professionals in the institution.
This model has been in use at URSMD since 1990 but has seen exponential growth recently (increasing from 3 deaf professionals with designated interpreters in 2011 to a peak of 17 in 2016). Designated interpreters have worked in different research and clinical settings from dentistry and nursing to community and global health. This growth highlights the increasing number of deaf professionals in medicine and the need to train more designated interpreters.
In response to this growing demand, URSMD is developing an ASL Interpreting in Medicine and Science program, a master's degree-level program to train interpreters who are bilingual in ASL and English to be designated interpreters. The designated interpreter model is one step toward creating an environment that is fully inclusive of deaf professionals to the benefit of the whole institution.
使用美国手语（ASL）的聋人专业人士在学术医学领域的人数不断增加。为该群体提供合理的住宿条件包括提供 ASL 口译员。许多机构与外部机构签订合同，提供临时口译员，但这种模式对聋人专业人士和机构都存在隐藏成本。
罗切斯特大学医学院（URSMD）采用指定口译员模式，口译员在员工队伍中，与聋人专业人士一起工作，以便他们能够了解工作环境和聋人专业人士的专业科学和医学内容。这种模式解决了外部机构方法的许多限制，并更好地促进了聋人专业人士融入机构。
这种模式自 1990 年以来一直在 URSMD 使用，但最近呈指数级增长（从 2011 年的 3 名配备指定口译员的聋人专业人士增加到 2016 年的 17 人高峰）。指定的口译员在从牙科和护理到社区和全球健康等不同的研究和临床环境中工作。这种增长突显了医学领域聋人专业人士数量的增加，以及需要培训更多指定口译员的需求。
为了应对这种需求的增长，URSMD 正在开发一个 ASL 口译在医学和科学项目，这是一个硕士学位水平的项目，旨在培训双语 ASL 和英语的口译员成为指定口译员。指定口译员模式是为聋人专业人士创造一个完全包容的环境的一步，这有利于整个机构。
