Assignment instructions

At Children’s Minnesota, we expect interpreters to follow the procedures below when arriving at, leaving, or cancelling an assignment.

Arriving at an assignment

To ensure every patient encounter gets off to a good start, please remember the following:

Be on time

Interpreters are expected to arrive on time to their assignments. For outpatient appointments please arrive ten minutes before the scheduled appointment to allow time for registration and to sign the interpreter log at the registration desk. Arriving ten minutes early is paid time. Timeliness will be monitored and reported to agency management on a regular basis.

Please give yourself enough time to manage common traffic delays, parking and finding the area where you are scheduled to work. Here’s where to find addresses and location information for our facilities:

Outpatient clinic locations:

• Minneapolis – Children’s hospital campus
• St. Paul – Children’s hospital campus

Be prepared with patient information

Please be prepared with all of the necessary patient information prior to arriving to your appointment. If you don’t have this information, contact your agency.

Check in

All interpreters are required to check in at the Welcome Center prior to interpreting.

When you arrive at either the Children’s Minneapolis or Children’s St. Paul hospitals, please present your agency ID at the main Welcome Desk to be checked in and receive a “Fast Pass” badge. The Welcome Desk staff will help you direct you towards the appropriate unit or clinic for your assignment.

For outpatient clinic locations, go to the clinic assigned, and check in with patient registration.

Stay in the registration area until you meet the patient

Because the first part of your job as an interpreter is to help patients get registered and find their appointment, we ask you stay in the registration area until you meet the patient. When you meet the patient, introduce yourself to the family and convey that you are the interpreter.

At our hospitals, agency-contracted interpreters can wait in any hospital lobby when conducting hospital business. Please refrain from using the family waiting areas and do not use computers, copy machines and other equipment intended for patients and staff. The Family Resource Centers are for family use only.

Completing/leaving an assignment

An assignment can end in several different ways. Find out what to do in each of the scenarios below:

If the patient is late

Interpreters need to wait until the patient is officially a “no-show” (generally 20 minutes after the appointment time depending on the clinic and procedure). After a patient is considered a “no-show”, interpreters may ask staff to sign their worksheet and check out.

After an appointment is over

After interpreting, make sure to have a clinician and the person you interpret for sign your Children’s worksheet. Then, please return your worksheet to the Welcome Desk and check out. Remember: agency worksheets are not accepted at Children’s.

Emergency department

Important: If reporting to the Emergency Department, give the nurse 30 minutes notice before you need to leave. This will help us make arrangements for continuity of service to our patients.

Cancelling an assignment

If you are unable to keep an assignment, let us know as soon as possible. If you’re an agency interpreter, contact your agency. If you have a contract with Children’s directly, contact Interpreter Services at 612-813-7600. At a minimum, Interpreter Services at Children’s needs two hours advance notice.