Best Tool for Learning Medical Spanish

[Rebecca, RN]

I'm a new RN working in the SICU in an inner city hospital. A lot of our patients and their families speak spanish and, while I took spanish throughout High School (and I'm embarrassed to say the first half of college as well), I can barely keep up a simple conversation, let alone try and comfort a family member and/or answer all of their questions accurately. Interpreter services is always available during/after rounds, but not for random daily conversations. I know Rosetta Stone is the best for learning spanish, but is there something comparable for learning medical jargon as well?

Any ideas are well appreciated, thank you! :)

[woknblues]

I subscribe to several spanish learning podcasts. Very productive commutes. One is a general spanish, and another is a medical terminology specific one. The med one is a bit dry. Not sure if I can give the resource/link, but if you own an apple product, you can find it easily. Oh yeah, they are free...

I also do rosetta stone.

[Music in My Heart]

I disagree with your "Rosetta Stone is best comment" but that's off topic.

To your point: I have two Spanish-English medical dictionaries, one by LWW and the other... not sure... but they're both written at the professional level and have all of the terminology that you'd ever want.

To that I'd add a guide on Mexican/Cuban/Puerto Rican (depending on where you are) colloquialisms.

After that, it's practice, practice, practice and use it every chance you get.

[Crux1024]

I agree with the practice..try going to a Spanish market or bodega in your area and kinda listen to whats going on; give a try at reading the products. Also check your hospital/local community college to see if they offer a Spanish Class geared for Healthcare providers.

[Music in My Heart]

One problem that I see (and experienced) with the "for healthcare providers" approach is similar to the problem with a lot of "conversational" classes. Namely, you don't get taught the basic grammatical structures and so you're very quickly limited in your ability to interact with people beyond simple yes/no questions and commands... those are helpful, of course, but imagine trying to communicate with your English-speaking patients that way.

I highly recommend studying grammar and common vocabulary if you really want to be able to communicate with your patients.

[delilas]

After I realized my years-old conversational spanish would be little help, I took a refresher course and also used a couple free resources online to get medical terminology down.

One of my favorite sites:

http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/medical-spanish

It's split into sections like interview, chief complaint, HEENT, etc - so you can review areas that may be more specific to the floor or area you work in. It also has audio for each example.

It's of course not as comprehensive as a class or other "live" system, but it was good for a free, online learning course.

[angiebelle]

Although it's not a program, i have gotten a flashcard app and "written" Spanish medical terms from the back of my Taber's dictionary. i took two semesters of Spanish years ago, and that has helped me in conjugating verbs, a bit. And i always begin with: "Mi Espanol es muy feo; despacio, por favor. " (My Spanish is very ugly, speak slowly, please.) But, once i get me a nurse's wage, i am going to look into programs to help me. i'll be keeping an eye out for recommendations.....