How much will learning Spanish help as a doctor?

[Levitin]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

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[PreMedOrDead]

How much will learning Spanish help as a doctor?

Un poco.

 

[Jabbed]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

It's nice to be able to speak to your patients to take histories and stuff.

 

[polyatomic]

When shadowing doctors, I was surprised to see how many Spanish-only speaking patients there were, especially in an area where I thought the Spanish population was pretty low. One ophthalmologist knew just enough Spanish to get the patients to look right, left, up, down. For the rest he had to wait until the translator was available. Obviously, he told me repeatedly that he wished he had learned Spanish in school.

I don't know any Spanish either...hoping whatever medical school I go into has a medical Spanish course.

 

[pietachok]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

Yes, obviously it helps as a physician in a country with so many individuals who only speak Spanish or are at the very least uncomfortable speaking English.
It is reported in residency applications, along with your self-reported degree of proficiency. How the programs use that info is at their discretion, and probably varies from not at all to significant depending on the location of the program (i.e. North Dakota versus Puerto Rico).
There are bilingual bonuses offered by some residencies and employers.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

How the programs use that info is at their discretion, and probably varies from not at all to significant depending on the location of the program (i.e. North Dakota versus Puerto Rico).

Value for North Dakota (Percent): 2.0% (Source)
Value for Puerto Rico (Percent): 69% (Source)

You don't get much better examples than that, niiiice.

While learning Spanish certainly helps, becoming bilingual is an incredible effort. Speaking in broken Spanish is probably not advisable in medical situations, so you'd probably want to reach that point before using it in practice without a translator.

 

[The Buff OP]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

Knowing a popular foreign language is always a plus. The U.S. has a really high population of Spanish speakers no matter where you go in the U.S.
I would start learning Spanish now, who know's if you will have time for it in medical school. Also, it would be a nice thing to have when you apply for medical school. Read my past thread here. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ngual-applicants-is-it-an-extra-boost.995619/

 

[Ok2Panic]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

I think it'll help for all the reasons people already stated, but mileage obviously depends on your geographic location. In LA, it was invaluable. Being able to at least do a basic H&P in Spanish was clutch, and med students/residents that couldn't do that ended up spending a lot of time hanging around waiting for translators. In Rochester, Minnesota, a lack of proficiency wasn't as much of a detriment.

 

[terp720]

When shadowing doctors, I was surprised to see how many Spanish-only speaking patients there were, especially in an area where I thought the Spanish population was pretty low. One ophthalmologist knew just enough Spanish to get the patients to look right, left, up, down. For the rest he had to wait until the translator was available. Obviously, he told me repeatedly that he wished he had learned Spanish in school.

I don't know any Spanish either...hoping whatever medical school I go into has a medical Spanish course.

my friend took a medical spanish class at her school, and they required that you have some ability to speak Spanish already and can pass an exam. The course they offer doesn't actually teach you Spanish, just medical Spanish if you already have the base knowledge. I'm not sure if this is true everywhere, but something to keep in mind maybe

 

[PreMedOrDead]

my friend took a medical spanish class at her school, and they required that you have some ability to speak Spanish already and can pass an exam. The course they offer doesn't actually teach you Spanish, just medical Spanish if you already have the base knowledge. I'm not sure if this is true everywhere, but something to keep in mind maybe

My undergrad had a Medical Spanish class. Other than some common syntactical errors it wasn't grammatical, rather mostly medical vocabulary and presentations in Spanish. It wasn't a rigorous course, but it was a good refresher.

 

[terp720]

My undergrad had a Medical Spanish class. Other than some common syntactical errors it wasn't grammatical, rather mostly medical vocabulary and presentations in Spanish. It wasn't a rigorous course, but it was a good refresher.

i meant in medical school.. it was offered as an elective. they expected students to already have prior knowledge. again, may not be the same with classes at other schools, was just bring it up as something to keep in mind.

 

[MEN2C]

It helps a LOT! The faculty love students who can speak spanish fluently - it saves them so much effort in getting an interpreter or using that phone which no one likes.

 

[Perrotfish]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

It helps much, much more than you think. As far as I can tell translators are a myth made up by the liberal media. Its not that they don't exist, but they are usually sufficiently hard to get ahold of that as a resident you have no practical option to access them. If you don't know the language you frequently end up using relatives to translate, or nurses w/ variable levels of fluency, or just playing medical charades. Also, Spanish only patients are crazy common: in LA/Texas of course its pretty much half of your patients, but even in VA and Louisiana, definitely no border states, it's 5-10% of your census on any given day. Spanish is basically the only thing that I learned in undergrad that I've used in medical school and residency, and I use it a lot. It is a minor/unquantifiable influence on your eventual match/salary, but its a big part of making you efficient on rounds/in clinic when you have a good sized Spanish speaking population. Even broken Spanish helps, if only so that you can attempt to spot check whatever translator you've improvised.

BTW if you want to learn the language in a hurry I recommend a brief study abroad with these guys (or something similar) before medical school starts: www.ecela.com. Two months will get you a lot of the way towards where you want to be, 4-6 months an you'll be the team translator. Trying to learn IN medical school is not a terrible idea, but odds are you'll be too busy and stressed to keep up with it.

 

[acslater99]

I'm Puerto Rican and can only speak a little Spanish which is sad because both my parents speak fluent Spanish. But! I do understand it completely which is always a plus.

 

[nemo123]

A lot. Even in random places, Hispanic people will come up to me and randomly start talking to me in Spanish (asking for directions and stuff). And I look 100% Asian. It is really bizarre.

 

[mvenus929]

my friend took a medical spanish class at her school, and they required that you have some ability to speak Spanish already and can pass an exam. The course they offer doesn't actually teach you Spanish, just medical Spanish if you already have the base knowledge. I'm not sure if this is true everywhere, but something to keep in mind maybe

My med school has two med Spanish courses. The first does not require any background in Spanish. The second requires that you have taken the first, or have enough background to have a basic conversation. The focus of the class isn't to learn enough Spanish to have a long conversation with someone, it's to be able to take a really basic history from a patients and be able to communicate what you're doing during the physical, when most people don't have an interpreter readily available.

That said, we also have a number of study abroad options for people who want to do language immersion.

 

[Medstart108]

I'm considering learning spanish while in medical school as it will help me communicate with a larger range of patients. How much do you think this skill will help as a doctor? Will it make any difference in terms of what residencies i can get into, or what my eventual salary will be?

I recommend it. Expanding your patient base is very important. At the end of the day though if you can't speak it fluently to your patients its not very useful. So if you go for it you basically should be going for fluency.