MA in Intercultural Services in Healthcare
A new career path arising from the rising need for culturally competent administrators and comprehensive diversity strategies in healthcare.
This track is the first such specialization in the U.S., preparing graduates to enter managerial positions in culture-sensitive healthcare delivery areas such as bilingual employment, patient relations, translation/interpreting services and health communications.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations established that 66 percent of sentinel events in healthcare are caused by deficient communication. As a result, as of January 1, 2011, it implemented accreditation standards to advance effective communication and cultural competence, requiring medical institutions receiving federal funds to provide language services to patients with limited English proficiency.
Our graduates will be prepared to
- identify and address ethnic, linguistic and socio-cultural healthcare issues
- ensure hiring of qualified and competent interpreters, translator, and bilingual staff
- educate personnel about current federal regulations
- improve patient care quality by integrating evidence-based practices of intercultural healthcare delivery into the work process
- help reduce tragic and costly sentinel events.
Language requirements
This track is non-language specific and is taught in English. Foreign language competency is desirable but not required.
Duration and course requirements
This is a full-time (36 credit hour), intensive two-semester course of studies that runs from the end of August until mid-May. In addition to the coursework, an internship and an applied research project will allow students to make a rigorous connection between the practical experience in the workplace and their more theoretical experience in the classroom.
Core Courses (27 hrs)
- Survey of Health Communication (COM 655, 3hrs)
- Health Communication: Patient-Provider (COM 656, 3hrs)
- Localization and Terminology (LIN 683, 3 hrs)
- Applied Interpreting Studies (TIS 731, 3 hrs)
- Applied Translation Studies (TIS 733, 3 hrs)
- Organizational Behavior and Interpreting (TIS 736, 3 hrs)
- Internship (TIS 684, 3hr)
- Applied Research Project (TIS 785, 6 hrs)
Elective Courses – three from the following (9 hrs)*
- Sociolinguistics and Dialectology (LIN 610, 3 hrs)
- Language Use and Technology (LIN 680, 3 hrs)
- Language Specific Business Translation
- Language Specific Medical-Scientific Translation
- Language Specific Interpreting
- Discourse Organization and Interpreting (TIS 735, 3 hrs)
- Remote Interpreting (TIS 737, 3 hrs)
- Chinese-English Interpreting (language specific) (TIS 755, 3 hrs)
- Multimedia Translation (TIS 770, 3hrs)
- Independent Study (TIS 789, 1-3 hrs)
*Note: not all elective courses are offered every semester