Resources to learn Medical Spanish

Seaglass · May 22, 2004

Well, I'm guessing that just about everyone these days has a significant number of spanish only patients in their ED. Wake does as well and the translators are very overworked so I'm going to try to learn some spanish. I had a few years of it in HS and a short course in medical school so I have the basics down. Right now I need the vocab more than grammar rules.

So...what resources have you found helpful? Particularly I would like something with an audio component and more medical focused than just conversational Spanish. Any help?

Casey

Tas · May 22, 2004

"Spanish for Health Care Professionals"

in your local Barnes & Noble.

Unfortunately, it has no audio component, but each chapter is devoted to a different area of medicine (ie. Emergency, OB, Peds, etc...)

Best thing I've found so far, but if you find something better please let me know.

I took the time to contact Pimsleur (creators of those great audio tapes...) but they told me they have no plans to make a medically oriented set of audio tapes.

Sessamoid · May 23, 2004

Get a Spanish-English dictionary for your palm top (you do have a palmtop, right?). Makes it easy to learn new words on the fly in spare moments.

aliraja · May 23, 2004

You could go to costa rica for a couple of weeks between now and when you start and take a medical spanish course 🙂

www.spanishandmore.com is who i used... lots of fun and pretty damn useful. But it's probably cheaper and easier to buy a book from B&N. Doesn't come with a tan though...

LaurieB · May 24, 2004

Another book recommendation:

Medical Spanish: A Conversational Approach (Comes with a practice CD)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=lpr_g_2/002-2941683-0513626?v=glance&s=books

I also recently saw a pocket sized flipcard with relevant phrases:

http://speedylanguage.com/ssm.html

Sheerstress · May 24, 2004

For a quick medical Spanish reference, I would recommend Medical Spanish: An Instant Translator by Nasr and Cordero. Lots of useful phrases when interviewing patients.

For audio courses, you might want to check out these two sites:

http://www.languagedynamics.com/ They have a nice user-friendly general Spanish course consisting of eight lessons, each of which is great for road trips lasting an hour or more. You'll get more if you use the workbook, but anyone with previous instruction should be able to get back a lot of their fluency in a relatively short time. Again, this is primarily for general, everyday Spanish.

http://www.medspanish.org/ They are geared specifically toward Spanish for medical professionals, and have a three-level audio course. They also have a 4-day intensive course that covers the material, I believe at a beginning and advanced level. I haven't been to their course, but they are ACEP-approved.

Finally, if you want something of an "immersion" experience, you might want to check out one of several schools across the border that can provide it - most of the cost appears to be airfare. Here's one of them: http://www.becari.com.mx/

Seaglass · May 24, 2004

Thanks, great stuff so far.

C

docflanny · May 28, 2004

I have been speaking/learning Spanish for over 14 years. The best overall resource for medical spanish is the Spanish-English Medical Dictionary by Dale? Rodgers, M.D. I?ve owned it for 6 years and it has never disappointed me. The vocab contained within it is top-notch. There are sections at the end which perfectly translate phrases that are used by system and by specialty. It?s a must buy for anyone serious about learning to use medical Spanish in their career.

Retinamark · Jun 12, 2004

Do you need to speak Spanish to work in San Diego or Miami for example?
What % of patients don't speak English?

flighterdoc · Jun 16, 2004

Retinamark said:
Do you need to speak Spanish to work in San Diego or Miami for example?
What % of patients don't speak English?

In almost any hospital you'll do your residency in, in the US, at least 30% of your patients won't be fluent in english, with the VAST majority of them spanish-speakers. This is true not only on the coasts (Seattle to San Diego, NYC to Miami) but in the Rockies (Idaho, Colorado, NM that I know of), and Mid-America and the south.

Retinamark · Jun 16, 2004

Hey thanks flighterdoc. Do many US grads speak Spanish? We have a huge non-English speaking population at public hospitals (like county hospitals) in Melbourne. They are mostly Greek, Italian & Vietnamese. But since hardly any Aussie grads speak these languages, we have hospital interpreters. Is it like that in the US, or do most of you guys learn spanish?

ie How would I cope doing a fellowship in San Diego or Miami, if I don't speak Spanish?

Thanks

Retinamark · Jun 16, 2004

PS - You have one of the coolest signatures,
but what does the last line mean? (pardon my ignorance 🙂 )

OSUdoc08 · Jun 17, 2004

The Texas Tech University-El Paso EM residency includes medical Spanish classes, and from what I hear, most residents are fluent after the first year because of the patient contact & proficiency of teaching staff. There are several months in the 2nd & 3rd years spent in Phoenix hospitals, so it's not all just El Paso.

Sessamoid · Jun 17, 2004

OSUdoc08 said:
The Texas Tech University-El Paso EM residency includes medical Spanish classes, and from what I hear, most residents are fluent after the first year because of the paitent contact & proficiency of teaching staff. There are several months in the 2nd & 3rd years spent in Phoenix hospitals, so it's not all just El Paso.

Be careful if you're not really interested in using Spanish on a daily basis, though. When I was there, the psych teams conducted rounds in Spanish (not that it mattered much to us).

Resources to learn Medical Spanish

Seaglass

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Tas

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Sessamoid

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aliraja

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LaurieB

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Sheerstress

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Seaglass

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docflanny

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Retinamark

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flighterdoc

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Retinamark

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Retinamark

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OSUdoc08

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Sessamoid

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