Medical Spanish

[SaltySqueegee]

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Hi there everyone,

I'm currently in the 'thick of it.' My school is offering an elective two-part year-long series in Intro and Advanced Medical Spanish (no pre-reqs required)(Satisfactory/No Credit).

Has anyone done a course like this? Is it usefull? Would you do it again, or study something like this later? Thoughts, suggestions and recommendations are welcome.

-Salty

 

[DrMom]

I did a short class like that. I'd recommend it as long as you can keep up with all of your regular stuff.

 

[InductionAgent]

If you expect to be practicing medicine in an area with a sizeable Spanish-speaking population (e.g. anywhere in the United States), it would be a good idea to take the course. Can you audit it without a grade? That way you could duck out if you had a test around the corner in your basic sciences.

You also might find that your studies in communicating during a patient encounter will help in dealing with your English-speaking patients, too, so it sounds like a very useful class all-around.

 

[MeowMix]

Hi there everyone,

I'm currently in the 'thick of it.' My school is offering an elective two-part year-long series in Intro and Advanced Medical Spanish (no pre-reqs required)(Satisfactory/No Credit).

Has anyone done a course like this? Is it usefull? Would you do it again, or study something like this later? Thoughts, suggestions and recommendations are welcome.

-Salty

I tried a bunch of Spanish courses like that over the years. Regardless of my good intentions, other commitments would get in the way; I would always drop out after a month or two and never used the Spanish outside class. When I started to work with Spanish-speaking patients, it was almost like starting from scratch. I did not believe, but it is true; you only learn it when you are practicing often. Taking a class only once a week or so isn't frequent enough to solidify it in your head. You'd be better off taking immersion over the summer, or getting CDs at home, or working at a community clinic where you will practice every day, or practicing with a Spanish-speaking classmate for 15 minutes a day.

The advantage of the class is that it gives you a break from med school!

 

[DrMom]

Of course immersion is best, but a mecial spanish class is still quite useful.

 

[Sohalia]

I did a medical spanish afterschool class my (Duke) MS1 year. I'd only had a semester of regular spanish previously. It happened like MeowMix said 🙁

I haven't really come up with a solution yet; there always seems to be something else I need to study for...I originally had a goal of keeping up with my other languages as well (I majored in French, have basic Hindi, etc...), but I got overwhelmed!

Well, Spanish is still on the to-do list 🙂