How to deal with unknown languages

[treehugger1]

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Hello SDN community,

Long time reader, first time poster here!

I have been assigned to a hospital for 3rd year rotations that has a very heavy spanish based population. I do not know a word of spanish.👎

Any suggestions on what to do? (translators take like forever to come down...) Any quick solutions?

 

[Smurfette]

Several options for anytime you have a patient speaking a language you cannot:

1. in-house translator (really the best option). Call them early to minimize your wait.
2. call the hospital's language line (usually a 1-800 number where you call and tell them which language you need, and they will connect you to someone who speaks it. Especially useful for rarer languages).
3. find someone who does speak spanish to come with you. Often a nurse or other support staff can help you out in order to get a history.
4. pocket translators with pantomimes. There are also phone apps but its time-consuming. Obviously this isn't a good option, but you'd be surprised sometimes what you can communicate while waiting for a translator to arrive.
5. learn a few common medical spanish words like "fever" "diarrhea" "nausea" (which sound similar to english) to be able to ask patients yes/no questions. Many patients do speak a few english words, at least enough to be able to understand what you're trying to do. It may not get you a lot of details, but it is a starting point until you get a translator there.

 

[colbgw02]

Minor point, but they don't like to be called translators. They're interpreters. The difference is subtle, but if you're already having a hard time getting them to show up, then...

 

[treehugger1]

Minor point, but they don't like to be called translators. They're interpreters. The difference is subtle, but if you're already having a hard time getting them to show up, then...

Thanks for the tip 😀

 

[treehugger1]

Several options for anytime you have a patient speaking a language you cannot:

1. in-house translator (really the best option). Call them early to minimize your wait.
2. call the hospital's language line (usually a 1-800 number where you call and tell them which language you need, and they will connect you to someone who speaks it. Especially useful for rarer languages).
3. find someone who does speak spanish to come with you. Often a nurse or other support staff can help you out in order to get a history.
4. pocket translators with pantomimes. There are also phone apps but its time-consuming. Obviously this isn't a good option, but you'd be surprised sometimes what you can communicate while waiting for a translator to arrive.
5. learn a few common medical spanish words like "fever" "diarrhea" "nausea" (which sound similar to english) to be able to ask patients yes/no questions. Many patients do speak a few english words, at least enough to be able to understand what you're trying to do. It may not get you a lot of details, but it is a starting point until you get a translator there.

Thank you for the info. Do you have any suggestions for pocket translators?

 

[Smurfette]

Sorry, I don't know off the top of my head! Mine is a square shaped book that easily fits in a lab coat pocket with room to spare that is called "pocket medical spanish" or something similar (I can't remember the exact name, but it definitely has "Pocket" in the title). What I did was go to a medical bookstore and look at some that they had. I flipped through and took a simple complaint (like RLQ pain/appendicitis) and saw how easy (or not) it was to look up the questions associated with that complaint. I personally found one that was broken into systems based chapters that I thought would work well for me; I didn't think I'd need to flip through as many pages that way. You may prefer a different book layout or just an alpha listing.

Do make sure it's only a medical spanish/english book though....otherwise it'll be way too difficult to sort through a regular spanish-english dictionary for the exact words/phrases you're looking for.

 

[McGillGrad]

You'll learn some as you go on. If you want to bee really keen, you can get Rosetta Stone.

I just use the translator phone or get someone who speaks Spanish. It's easier that way. No one is going to give you a hard time for taking longer with non-English patients.

 

[OnDemond]

Hello SDN community,

Long time reader, first time poster here!

I have been assigned to a hospital for 3rd year rotations that has a very heavy spanish based population. I do not know a word of spanish.👎

Any suggestions on what to do? (translators take like forever to come down...) Any quick solutions?

First of all, welcome!!
This might sound obvious, but before you call an interpreter, ask the patient if they speak any English. Often you assume they have no English proficiency when they can actually speak rudimentary English.
Also, I HIGHLY recommend learning American Sign Language. Why? Because it's almost universal - by learning the basic gestures, you can pantomime-speak it with people, from any country, who don't speak English. Besides, you are certain to encounter deaf patients on the wards and in the clinics, and if you know ASL 1) you will SHINE as the only staff member who knows ASL and 2) you'll have a exponentially-better relationship with the patient. Remember, while people living in the U.S. can (and should) learn to speak English, the deaf have no other way to communicate with hearing people other than ASL.
I used to be an ASL interpreter for a while (I have to brush-up on it...), and two of the most memorable patient encounters were with deaf patients with whom I could communicate.
Hope this helped!