1 September 2019 – 31 August 2022
The Universidad San Jorge (Spain) is the leading HEI (Higher Education Institution) of the ReACTMe project, aimed at promoting Medical Interpreting Training.
Medical interpreting as a profession varies greatly within the EU, and the relevant needs are constantly changing, as migration patterns into EU member states are affected by social, economic and political events. All EU countries are therefore coping with rapidly changing environments and need to develop interpreting services meeting the current citizens’ needs. To attain said purpose, focusing on training is essential.
HEIs are called upon to provide innovative and specialized Medical Interpreting training to help overcome the communication barriers that patients who don’t speak the official language of the country encounter when having access to health care services. By professionalizing medical interpreting universities can give their contribution to guaranteeing equality and social inclusion in health care services.
The lack of higher education training in medical interpreting is probably one of the reasons why non-specialized interpreters are often relied upon in case of foreign-language speaking patients in Italian, Romanian and Spanish healthcare services. This is very likely to have a negative impact on communication and clinical outcomes.
Website: www.reactme.net
The objectives
The project will have a 3-year duration, and at the end of the 3rd year partners aim at accomplishing the following tasks:
- a comparative analysis of the current needs of medical interpreting in the three countries concerned;
- a digital learning platform and a set of guidelines and training resources for medical interpreting;
- multilingual guidelines for healthcare providers working with interpreters;
- training 20 trainers with varied linguistic profiles, who will be able to train medical interpreters in their countries (12 from Romania);
- medical interpreting training to 36 students from Faculties of translation, interpreting or foreign languages;
- a joint blended learning curriculum on medical interpreting to be implemented after the funding period;
- the publication of a book focused on the major conclusions drawn from this transnational experience.
The team
The research team is a multidisciplinary team of lecturers and researchers from 6 European universities. Coordinator: Universidad San Jorge (Spain).
Partners and referents
Almudena Nevado Llopis
UNIVERSIDAD SAN JORGE (SPAIN)
Ana Isabel Foulquié Rubio
UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIA (SPAIN)
Christopher John Garwood
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI
DI BOLOGNA (ITALY)
Elena Tomassini
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI INTERNAZIONALI
DI ROMA – UNINT (ITALY)
Alina Pelea
UNIVERSITATEA BABEȘ-BOLYAI (ROMANIA)
Alina Andreica
UNIVERSITATEA DE
MEDICINĂ ȘI FARMACIE
IULIU HAȚIEGANU (ROMANIA)
The UNINT research team includes
Elena Tomassini
Donatella Cifola
Francesca Gnani
