Currently a junior at Rutgers University I, along with my friends, want to enhance and personalize the educational experience of the diverse community who attend Rutgers University from West Windsor and neighboring towns as well as combat medical illiteracy and language barriers in the medical field.
Since the incorporation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into the U.S. legislature in 2010, there has been an influx of patients who are now able to afford the care they need and take advantage of this national healthcare policy change. West Windsor-Plainsboro and close-by communities such as Piscataway and New Brunswick contain large diverse communities with many inhabitants having immigrated to their new homes. As a result a large proportion of these long-term residents speak English as their second language — assuming that they speak English at all.
With the growing availability of and access to health care in medically under-served communities, language barriers that exist between patient and physicians become a great detriment. Having been a volunteer EMT at the Twin W First Aid Squad since my high school career at High School South, I have had many experiences with interacting with patients who have had a difficult time understanding and explaining what they are feeling during their time of emergency even when we have transferred them to the hospital.
If patients do not speak English, and there are no competent translators present, how can higher level healthcare professionals provide the same quality of care to these patients and trust that the patients understand their ailments, treatments, dosages, and financials completely? Currently each state has its own legislated requirements for medical interpreters. In almost all cases, however, such requirements, training methods, and supervision are lacking. Malpractice suits due to language barriers are expensive and can be avoided easily with preparation and training.
Students enrolled at High Schools South and North come from many different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds and make up a large population of Rutgers studying the fields of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, physicians assistance, and other healthcare and science-related fields. Many students, like me, put so much work into these fields of study that many unfortunately lose their cultural background and ultimately their multilingual skills and potentials are wasted.
I believe that the best way to combat the issues of national language and cultural barriers is to utilize the large, diverse population of present and future students enrolled at Rutgers and create a continual-education program/certificate program that students can enroll in to (1) take their education in a more personal approach by using their native tongue to expand their career horizons in healthcare, (2) be more culturally aware and open to a potential career path abroad, and (3) combat language barriers and improve the overall healthcare system.
Being a student in a school with a student body of more than 65,000 students from all 50 states and more than 115 countries with a total of 47,000 undergraduates and more than 19,000 graduate students, it is easy to lose yourself in the competitive academic environment, especially in those aiming to pursue a career in healthcare. Heritage and culture becomes the “go-to” method of identifying myself out of the crowd. This project is important to me because it will allow busy pre-health students to add a personal flair into their “orthodox” education.
Undergraduates in the life sciences do not have a “right-out-of-college-hire-able” degree such as engineering degrees, and healthcare internships are often unpaid regardless of how much in debt the students are, I feel that this program will significantly help students be more prepared entering the job market. With this program and certificate, students are eligible for niche careers right out of college that could help build up funds to further their pursuit towards a career in healthcare.
In a project my partners and I have been working on, we have provided an overview for the proper preparation and training for medical interpreters. By analyzing the domestic and international methods of combatting language barriers and medical illiteracy, we have compiled and constructed a certification model program that takes into the account existing resources Rutgers New Brunswick already has such as eager students with various international backgrounds, dedicated, well-funded departments, and language labs.
Our goal for this project is to create a program in which students with an interest in a career in the field of healthcare can have a chance to utilize their cultural backgrounds to enhance their future experience in their given profession. Our long-term goal is to potentially develop a nationwide undergraduate medical interpreter certificate program that can be adopted into other schools across the U.S. and in affiliated international schools. What we need now is administrative and public advocacy to initiate this plan.
As current undergraduates hoping to enter the healthcare field in the near future after graduating from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and having been a student during the recent merger with the Robert Wood John Medical School, I feel that this program would benefit the Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and the population of eager students as a whole. Continuing the theme of the Rutgers motto: Sol iustitiae et occidentem illustra (Sun of righteousness, shine upon the West also), I feel that this program will open many opportunities with each coming year for a rapidly growing and diverse student body. My partners and I ask for your help, support, and participation in the integration of this program into the growing legacy of Rutgers University.
Aaron Wu
Rutgers University
New Brunswick
Editor’s Note: Wu graduated High School South in 2012 and is now a junior genetics major at Rutgers. His collaborators are Ife Aridegbe, a senior biology and public health major, and Vincenzo Cimino, a senior studying biology and animal science. For information contact rumedical.interpreter@gmail.com.
