Introduction

The period of time in which we live today, we see the world growing into a place of great cultural and linguistic diversity. With Spanish becoming the second most commonly spoken language in United States, Medical Professionals must learn to speak proficient Spanish to be able to communicate effectively with their patients. In situations where matters of life and death are at stake, miscommunication and misunderstanding can have a negative impact on everyday patient care. Learning Spanish is necessary to interact with patients for diagnosing a disease correctly and for taking patient medical history, thus providing good healthcare.

Keeping this idea in mind, many colleges provide a life long learning program of Spanish for the Medical Community. The program is carefully tailored to meet the needs of Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Dentists, Physical Therapists, Medical Technicians, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Medical Interpreter and Students in Health Care Industry who work with Spanish-speaking patients and their families.

Medical Spanish Training in the USA

Students can study Medical Spanish without leaving the country. Training programs, language courses and workshops provide several ways to gain practical skills and master vocabulary for serving Spanish speaking communities. Following are details on a number of available opportunities for acquiring this training.

Online Opportunities

Live online classes use audio and the Internet in Spanish for healthcare professionals. The courses include interactive dialogues, specific vocabulary, drills and exercises, animated explanations, Internet collaboration tools and more.

Training Programs

Various training programs offer experience in pre-natal and woman's healthcare. This is made available through professional conferences, presentations and workshops, on-sight training at your work place, correspondence courses, travel study courses and effective workshops.
 

Language Courses

Spanish Language School offers Spanish medical terminology courses. Daily, students participate in six 50-minute classes of standard Spanish instruction each day for two to four weeks. The medical part of the course lasts for two hours each afternoon for two to four weeks. Activities are based on the goals of the student and may include visiting hospitals or clinics.

Spanish Course for the Medical Community - Overview

This is an intensive Medical Spanish course, designed and taught by highly qualified instructors. It has four week duration. The objective of the program is to ensure students, physicians, and health professionals learn and practice the fine points of communicating with Spanish speaking patients, while obtaining important clinical and procedural skills.

Students learn the fundamentals of the language via Regular classes and then build upon that foundation by incorporating Medical terminology and field specific vocabulary through the Medical Classes. Various medical problems and diseases are used as learning models during this course.

Objectives

The course aims at teaching techniques for effective communication with patients in Spanish. The course exposes students to various mythical health beliefs and cultural constraints to accept treatments. The course emphasizes the differential diagnostics of tropical diseases. The main objective of this course is to develop the comprehension skills within the students of the patient response to different environments and situations according to his or her cultural, social, and emotional background. Moreover, in all the Medical Spanish books, the main focus is laid on interaction of medical expert with the patient. In this life long learning course on Medical Spanish, special attention is also given to the communications between physician, nurses, physician assistants, and other health professional.

Course Format

The course outline lays special emphasis on Intensive grammar and Spanish pronunciation, comprehension and vocabulary sessions. Videos of simulated patients are recorded and shown to students for educational purpose. The students are exposed to the transcultural experience of Latin community. Scientific and popular anatomical terms are taught using anatomy images, live models and other aids. The course encourages dialog opportunities with native Spanish speakers in everyday life.

Curriculum

Learning a new language is not easy and takes time. A lot of students have unrealistically high expectations from language schools. It is essential to know that being proficient in Spanish will take time that varies from individual to individual. The curriculum of the Spanish course for medical community available in various colleges ensures you to learn the fundamentals. Also living in an environment, which encourages daily practice with native speakers will strengthen your communication abilities in Spanish, both in everyday life and in the workplace. Following activities are part of general curriculum for the available course:

Cost and Duration

The program lasts for four weeks and participants must successfully complete the required number of credits. The cost of the program ranges from $275 to $305.

Conclusion

Learning Spanish is a life long experience, where students learn greetings, introductions, medical terminology, and basic vocabulary for intake, case management, getting patient medical history and providing the most common medical instructions for treatment and medication. These programs also promote related cultural awareness, thus improving healthcare to the deserving community.