Programs with mostly Spanish-speaking patients?

[bky3c]

I'm working on figuring out which programs to apply to, and I didn't see anything on this when I did a search of the forum. Which programs require/recommend knowing Spanish reasonably well? I assume this would apply to many of the programs in the Southwest, but I'd like to make sure before I rule in/out any of them.

Before the angry comments begin... As a New Orleans transplant to Houston post-Katrina, I did one rotation at a hospital where 90% of the patients spoke only Spanish. I've always been interested in foreign languages, but unfortunately, Spanish was not one that I learned before this rotation. I picked up key words and phrases quickly, but I found it frustrating to try to learn a new language on top of everything else a 3rd year has to learn. I also missed out on the ability to establish a rapport with patients, explain things to them thoroughly, etc. I'm all for learning Spanish eventually, and I think it's clear that it's becoming important to medical care in more and more parts of the country, but as a resident, I think I'll do better if I can focus on learning medicine and then learn Spanish later.

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[bulgethetwine]

I'm working on figuring out which programs to apply to, and I didn't see anything on this when I did a search of the forum. Which programs require/recommend knowing Spanish reasonably well? I assume this would apply to many of the programs in the Southwest, but I'd like to make sure before I rule in/out any of them.

Before the angry comments begin... As a New Orleans transplant to Houston post-Katrina, I did one rotation at a hospital where 90% of the patients spoke only Spanish. I've always been interested in foreign languages, but unfortunately, Spanish was not one that I learned before this rotation. I picked up key words and phrases quickly, but I found it frustrating to try to learn a new language on top of everything else a 3rd year has to learn. I also missed out on the ability to establish a rapport with patients, explain things to them thoroughly, etc. I'm all for learning Spanish eventually, and I think it's clear that it's becoming important to medical care in more and more parts of the country, but as a resident, I think I'll do better if I can focus on learning medicine and then learn Spanish later.

I don't see any problem with your question. I think you will (inevitably) get some rather distasteful comments from some of those residing in the "defensive" camp, but whatever.

I wonder aloud if your concerns *might* be a little overblown given that almost every training hospital has robust translation services. Having said that, I certainly haven't worked at enough hospitals to be sure on this point. Besides, there is no denying that it takes extra time and yes, no matter how good your translator, there is inevitably some diminishment of the underlying message -- which has the potential to compromise patient care to say nothing of being problematic in the litigious society in which we operate.

One way you could estimate language difficulties would be to look at political polling data that break down districts by ethnicity. Correlate this with the location of your hospital, and it will probably be as accurate as you're going to get.

Also, for those of you who might actually be on the opposite end of the spectrum and want the language variety, try some of the big New York hospitals -- the 'second' languages used there go far beyond the confines of spanish... think Somali, Mandarin, Cantonese, Lebanese and a host of other wonderful tongues... you could become a cunning linguist

 

[bky3c]

I wonder aloud if your concerns *might* be a little overblown given that almost every training hospital has robust translation services. Having said that, I certainly haven't worked at enough hospitals to be sure on this point. Besides, there is no denying that it takes extra time and yes, no matter how good your translator, there is inevitably some diminishment of the underlying message -- which has the potential to compromise patient care to say nothing of being problematic in the litigious society in which we operate.

You make a good point. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions based on one bad experience. Translation services at this particular hospital were practically non-existent. Residents ended up translating in broken, heavily American-accented Spanish, with lots of hand gestures, or we tracked down one of the Spanish-speaking nurses, who were busy enough already with their regular jobs. Maybe in a different hospital, with better translation services, it might be a good experience.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I'm working on figuring out which programs to apply to, and I didn't see anything on this when I did a search of the forum. Which programs require/recommend knowing Spanish reasonably well? I assume this would apply to many of the programs in the Southwest, but I'd like to make sure before I rule in/out any of them.

Before the angry comments begin... As a New Orleans transplant to Houston post-Katrina, I did one rotation at a hospital where 90% of the patients spoke only Spanish. I've always been interested in foreign languages, but unfortunately, Spanish was not one that I learned before this rotation. I picked up key words and phrases quickly, but I found it frustrating to try to learn a new language on top of everything else a 3rd year has to learn. I also missed out on the ability to establish a rapport with patients, explain things to them thoroughly, etc. I'm all for learning Spanish eventually, and I think it's clear that it's becoming important to medical care in more and more parts of the country, but as a resident, I think I'll do better if I can focus on learning medicine and then learn Spanish later.

Texas Tech (El Paso). I believe they do some focused Spanish studies in the summer.

 

[kungfufishing]

I think you would pick up medical spanish more quickly than you might expect and it would serve you for the rest of your career. Besides, with the rate at which the hispanic population is growing, wouldnt you rather learn sooner than later - not to mention within the relatively sheltered environment of residency?

 

[la gringa]

do a spanish course as an elective 4th yr... i did an immersion course in costa rica that included medical spanish for 5 wks. i'm an intern and i only call a translator for complicated consents... i speak very functionally and patients are grateful to have a doctor who they can talk to!

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

I am a third year at Texas Tech SOM in Lubbock, TX. We have a three way split campus. After the second year, 1/2 the students go to El Paso, and the other 1/2 is split between Lubbock and Amarillo, TX. I ended up staying put in Lubbock. My friends in El Paso obviously say that more than half of their patient contact is Spanish speaking. I have yet to talk to anyone who said it was a huge problem. I am certain it is a bit of a struggle at first, but after one year, most of my friends feel they can speak spanish very well. Here in Lubbock, I have run into a fair share of spanish speaking patients, but not enough where I am even close to comfortable talking to them.

I think in the end, its one more tool to add to your box. I sometimes wonder now why I did not go to El Paso. My decision to stay in Lubbock was a fiscal issue since I already had a home set up here through a family member...

I think as far as Spanish speaking, I would bet that El Paso ranks #1 in the US. I would guess some places in southern CA might come close as well, but I have never been there...

Unfortunately, the only language I really am good at is West Texan...

 

[Ceez]

do a spanish course as an elective 4th yr... i did an immersion course in costa rica that included medical spanish for 5 wks. i'm an intern and i only call a translator for complicated consents... i speak very functionally and patients are grateful to have a doctor who they can talk to!

which program did you do? this sounds look a dope opportunity

 

[la gringa]

the school is called adventure education center, website is www.adventurespanishschool.com. the basic deal includes 1 trip a week, and the deluxe has fun w/e stuff like rafting included. i had a great experience with them - i sure did not want to leave my host mother cuz she was a great cook and did my laundry!! the month of feb when i was there was mostly 4th yr students and a few residents too.

 

[BKN]

which program did you do? this sounds look a dope opportunity

Since Tech was mentioned, we give our EM1s a 32 hours course their first month along with a lot of other orientation stuff. After that, you learn it as you go. Since essentially all of the nursing staff is bilingual and many of the Docs are too, you'll rarely be in trouble. The Spanish used to be a barrier to recruitment, now it's a plus.

And for a one month medical immersion rotation in an ED in Mexico try www.pacemd.org.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

And for a one month medical immersion rotation in an ED in Mexico try www.pacemd.org

Do you have anything to do with that program BKN? It looks interesting.....

 

[trkd]

Since Tech was mentioned, we give our EM1s a 32 hours course their first month along with a lot of other orientation stuff. After that, you learn it as you go. Since essentially all of the nursing staff is bilingual and many of the Docs are too, you'll rarely be in trouble. The Spanish used to be a barrier to recruitment, now it's a plus.

Just curious, do many of the programs in El Paso do this sort of thing? Seems like common sense though not sure how much non-EM programs value this.

And for a one month medical immersion rotation in an ED in Mexico try www.pacemd.org.

Looks sweet BKN! I am assuming by your mention of it that you know of people who have used this program, si?

Gracias!

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

the school is called adventure education center, website is www.adventurespanishschool.com. the basic deal includes 1 trip a week, and the deluxe has fun w/e stuff like rafting included. i had a great experience with them - i sure did not want to leave my host mother cuz she was a great cook and did my laundry!! the month of feb when i was there was mostly 4th yr students and a few residents too.

I did AEC in Feb also--which site were you at?

My only complaint about the program is that the medical spanish is more spanish and less medical--4 hours/day with the language and about 5/wk on medical-specific spanish. And, for one of the weeks, our med span instructor was pretty bad, so a good chunk of my medical spanish time was wasted. But, I would definitely say that I have a much better command of the language now than when I went (though I haven't used it much since). And just the experience of being there was great.

 

[RayF]

If immersing courses are not an option, try my patented "blockbuster approach". Go to the features of any DVD rental and turn on spanish subtitles, and then watch it again in spanish with english subtitles..
It's basically the poor-man's version of immersion.. without the traveling.

The trick is to stop trying to "learn" or "memorize" a language (stressful, waste of time).. try "understanding" it.

 

[positiveaob]

I'm working on figuring out which programs to apply to, and I didn't see anything on this when I did a search of the forum. Which programs require/recommend knowing Spanish reasonably well? I assume this would apply to many of the programs in the Southwest, but I'd like to make sure before I rule in/out any of them.

Before the angry comments begin... As a New Orleans transplant to Houston post-Katrina, I did one rotation at a hospital where 90% of the patients spoke only Spanish. I've always been interested in foreign languages, but unfortunately, Spanish was not one that I learned before this rotation. I picked up key words and phrases quickly, but I found it frustrating to try to learn a new language on top of everything else a 3rd year has to learn. I also missed out on the ability to establish a rapport with patients, explain things to them thoroughly, etc. I'm all for learning Spanish eventually, and I think it's clear that it's becoming important to medical care in more and more parts of the country, but as a resident, I think I'll do better if I can focus on learning medicine and then learn Spanish later.

Most of the northeast programs have a large spanish speaking population also. Especially where I work in the south bronx. It would definitely be a good idea for your future to start learning some basic medical spanish. My hospital doesnt have very easy to obtain interpreter services, I guess since most of the staff speak passable spanish and we're already so short staffed as it is. And when you are in a code situation you obviously dont have time either. There are some great imersion programs out there, which are also alot of fun. One that I went to which was a great time and a a great learning experience was in a town called San Miguel in mexico. Go to www. medspanish.com for more info. I very highly recommend it. Even if you do it for a vacation you wont regret it. There's also a free website where I learned alot of spanish basics on, called www.studyspanish.com.

Anyway, it may not seem fair at times that the pressure is on you to learn another language in your own country, but it really is a good idea in our specialty these days to learn some basic espanol.

 

[ispic]

Hi,

I'm a 3rd year at U of A and I've had several rotations at Maricopa where the consensus from the majority of residents is that you become fairly proficinent in Spanish by the end of your first year if you have even a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish (of course it helps that >90% of our patients speak el Espanol as their only language) the translator service works very well for those that need it (native speaker here), but for the most part I have not heard few complaints from the residents. The med students / nurses / other ancillary staff double as interpreters in a pinch as well. I do not kow if there is an actual language course set up for the residents or time off to do so.

 

[BKN]

Just curious, do many of the programs in El Paso do this sort of thing? Seems like common sense though not sure how much non-EM programs value this.

TR, I think other priograms do not, although the IM program on occasion has sent some of their residents to our program.

Looks sweet BKN! I am assuming by your mention of it that you know of people who have used this program, si?

Gracias!

DropKick,it's associated with UNM and others, I don't have anything to do with it. TR, I have had several applicants who took this rotation, they all gave it high marks.

 

[la gringa]

hawkeye, i was there in feb 05, guess i was less-than-clear... i spent 1 wk at dominical and 4 at turrialba.

 

[jojo14]

hey la gringa, were you able to get credit for the trip at all? how much patient contact did you get? thanks. dominical looks awesome...did you surf there?

jojo

 

[Hard24Get]

If immersing courses are not an option, try my patented "blockbuster approach". Go to the features of any DVD rental and turn on spanish subtitles, and then watch it again in spanish with english subtitles..
It's basically the poor-man's version of immersion.. without the traveling.

The trick is to stop trying to "learn" or "memorize" a language (stressful, waste of time).. try "understanding" it.

Amigos - tal vez podremos practicar in este foro? Entonces, cuando querremos mencionar algo, necesitamos pensar en espanol... Que piensan?

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

hawkeye, i was there in feb 05, guess i was less-than-clear... i spent 1 wk at dominical and 4 at turrialba.

oh, i see. i spent my entire time (3 wks) in dominical. a little light on the patient exposure and med-specific spanish, but very adequate in the other reasons i was there...

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

hey la gringa, were you able to get credit for the trip at all? how much patient contact did you get? thanks. dominical looks awesome...did you surf there?

jojo

a group of nine from my school went down and we got credit just as if it were any other elective. we had to really plead our case with the administration, though.

i would say that pt contact is very slim. i probably saw <5pts, and those were all so i could have practice speaking spanish with pts. there was absolutely no learning medicine, which is probably a good thing b/c they don't exactly practice the same things down there anyway. i'm sure you could get extra experience with the doc if you sought it out, but i had more pressing things to do.

 

[Y2KPSD]

sorry wrong post, thought I was replying to another

 

[RayF]

Amigos - tal vez podremos practicar in este foro? Entonces, cuando querremos mencionar algo, necesitamos pensar en espanol... Que piensan?

!asi mismo!

 

[totalbodypain]

Most of the northeast programs have a large spanish speaking population also. Especially where I work in the south bronx. It would definitely be a good idea for your future to start learning some basic medical spanish. My hospital doesnt have very easy to obtain interpreter services, I guess since most of the staff speak passable spanish and we're already so short staffed as it is. And when you are in a code situation you obviously dont have time either. There are some great imersion programs out there, which are also alot of fun. One that I went to which was a great time and a a great learning experience was in a town called San Miguel in mexico. Go to www. medspanish.com for more info. I very highly recommend it. Even if you do it for a vacation you wont regret it. There's also a free website where I learned alot of spanish basics on, called www.studyspanish.com.

Anyway, it may not seem fair at times that the pressure is on you to learn another language in your own country, but it really is a good idea in our specialty these days to learn some basic espanol.

I am at the same program and I have to say that I never needed the medical spanish. I get by just fine with hand gestures, waving mixed with occasional gestures or acting out. You'll do fine...In the end your spanish will be passable at any program with a heavy spanish population

 

[JackBauERfan]

I am at the same program and I have to say that I never needed the medical spanish. I get by just fine with hand gestures, waving mixed with occasional gestures or acting out. You'll do fine...In the end your spanish will be passable at any program with a heavy spanish population

hmm trying to visualize what hand gesture I would use for possible vaginal trauma....

 

[Hard24Get]

!asi mismo!

Voy a poner este discusión en una otra lugar, entonces. Creo que es importante para los doctores de emergencia a saber español, pero hace diez anos que yo no practicar!

 

[RayF]

Voy a poner este discusión en una otra lugar, entonces. Creo que es importante para los doctores de emergencia a saber español, pero hace diez anos que yo no practicar!

donde la vas a poner.. dejala aca porque ya hemos empesado! yo nunca he prube escribir el espanol, pero voy a hacer lo mejor que puedo. Ademas, el espanol que aprendi es el espanol de la calle en miami (my-jami)
?donde aprendiste el espanol, tu?

 

[la gringa]

dominical is great for surfing, but the classes are bigger and the medical program seemed less organized. turrialba was much better. the medical part really is a course in medical spanish with some patient activities... unless you are already functional, you can't do much anyway. and, you don't have a license. i just focused on learning spanish so that in residency i can do a practice-based elective. f

from my intern year in a hospital where 1/3 or so of the pts speak spanish, i've gotten quite good. the hardest part is comprehension... which is why i think all the hand gesture stuff is pretty dangerous. once you say "yo soy dra gringa" or "como esta?" they start talkin' and often it's really fast! my slang isn't so hot yet so i'm working on my "mexican"... having learned spanish in costa rica.

 

[Hard24Get]

donde la vas a poner.. dejala aca porque ya hemos empesado! yo nunca he prube escribir el espanol, pero voy a hacer lo mejor que puedo. Ademas, el espanol que aprendi es el espanol de la calle en miami (my-jami)
?donde aprendiste el espanol, tu?

Quiero escribir en "Quieren practicar" porque no quiero "hijack" el thread , especialmente porque el OP dice que no le gusta español. Aprendí español (castellano) en el colegio, pero no tome en la escuela secundaría o en escuela medica. Entonces, hace diez anos que no practicar, y recuerdo nada . Pero, tal vez si esforzarse con un diccionario, podré recordar algo!