A Study on Effectiveness of the Arabic-Korea/Korean-Arabic Medical Interpretation Curriculum and the Development Plan

Abstract

The demand for medical interpreters surged as the number of Middle Eastern patients who visited Korea, led by the UAE, rapidly increased in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Medical interpreting courses and lectures have taken place at universities and graduate schools since 2009, starting with a government agency. The purpose of this study is to analyze the curriculum as there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of medical interpreting education and to find ways to develop medical interpreting education by surveying satisfaction and points to be supplemented. A survey was conducted through Google Forms on medical interpreting education for three groups of medical interpreters and coordinators, medical staff, patients and guardians. Meaningful results were obtained although there were great difficulties in severe circumstances. The results indicate that the reorganization of the curriculum improved some aspects of the education, yet there is still improvement needed regarding task specific education, training completion, and verifying successful examination results.