I'm considering taking a spanish for health professionals class at a local jr college. It's not required for my nursing school, but I was thinking that it could possibly be useful to know a second language. I'm also planning on moving back to Texas after I finish school and there is a large hispanic population in certain areas.
Have you ever ended up in a situation where any of your patients spoke very little english and you weren't able to effectively communicate? I was also wondering if knowing spanish would make me more marketable (so to speak) once I graduate.
I just thought I would use you folks as a sounding board since I can't seem to make my mind up. On one hand it seems like a great idea. On the other hand I don't want to waste time and money on a class I don't really need if I'm never going to end up actually using Spanish in the work place.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Definitely....take the Spanish class. I use Spanish every day at work, and I live in Oregon! We have a large immigrant population, however, and when I started working in the hospital I found myself dusting off my high-school and college espanol after years of letting what used to be fluency 'rust' from disuse. It's funny, because I use it so much now that I sometimes find myself speaking a sort of Spanglish for a few seconds, until my brain catches up with my mouth and tells me its time to go back to English now. :chuckle
I highly recommend taking a spanish class! I work in a large children's hospital in Ohio and at least 2-3 times a month I am trying to admit a child of non-English speaking parents, usually Spanish-speaking, occasionally Chinese or Vietnamese. My Spanish is extremely limited, and the interpreter service offered by the hospital is not available at night ( I work 7p to 7a). I have actually been looking around myself for a Spanish class geared toward the health professional, it would make my admissions so much more thorough and make the care of the child so much better!
There is nothing quite like trying to convey to a parent with hand gestures to let the nurse know if the child has any more vomiting/diarrhea! :rotfl:
I'm considering taking a spanish for health professionals class at a local jr college. It's not required for my nursing school, but I was thinking that it could possibly be useful to know a second language. I'm also planning on moving back to Texas after I finish school and there is a large hispanic population in certain areas.
Have you ever ended up in a situation where any of your patients spoke very little english and you weren't able to effectively communicate? I was also wondering if knowing spanish would make me more marketable (so to speak) once I graduate.
I just thought I would use you folks as a sounding board since I can't seem to make my mind up. On one hand it seems like a great idea. On the other hand I don't want to waste time and money on a class I don't really need if I'm never going to end up actually using Spanish in the work place.
I use my Spanish every night at work. Don't expect one course to make you fluent though, but it will help you get through the basic questions. My biggest problem is when I get answers that aren't the words I know and expect for that question! Don't be afraid to ask people to slow down, or use different words.
As far as marketablity, some hospitals look for it, others never asked me if I spoke anything other than English. I took it in Junior and Senior High, loongg time ago. I learn vocabulary as I go along.
Another hassle is, we don't get paid extra for being bilingual, but I often got pulled away from my own patients to translate for other people's patients. At long last we have more people on nights who can translate now, whose Spanish is better than mine, so I can punt a few times :chuckle
Also, there are legal issues. Providing translation is required, and if you don't get an actual certified translator and something goes wrong .... that said, I translate whenever I can or need to. (I refuse to do psych interviews though, I just can't do the nuances.) Reminds me of the time I used ASL, I signed to a man to "sing" here for his xray, instead of "wait". :rotfl: Funny, he wouldn't look at my signs any more after that.......
It's always good to be able to communicate with your patients! Go for it! :balloons:
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
Definitely....take the Spanish class. I use Spanish every day at work, and I live in Oregon! We have a large immigrant population, however, and when I started working in the hospital I found myself dusting off my high-school and college espanol after years of letting what used to be fluency 'rust' from disuse. It's funny, because I use it so much now that I sometimes find myself speaking a sort of Spanglish for a few seconds, until my brain catches up with my mouth and tells me its time to go back to English now. :chuckle