Why people are studying Medical Spanish now?

October 20, 2009

Why people are studying Medical Spanish now?

By Urania Pérez.

I have been a Spanish Instructor for a long time but it has been in the last two years that I noticed a demand for “Medical Spanish” in Seattle. You may wonder what is Medical Spanish? It is a Spanish course where you focus your learning to the vocabulary used by doctors and healthcare providers. Grammar is presented just like in any other Spanish class but using just the vocabulary used by the medical professionals. Practice is focus in role-playing with situational dialogues between doctor and patient.

I have been teaching Medical Spanish in Experimental College for about a year, and another year in my own business Spanish In Seattle. It is fascinating to me to learn why students are taken my course. I noticed that there are three main categories of people interested in Medical Spanish: 1) doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers, 2) students of all medical fields, including dentist students, and social workers, and 3) other people for a variety of reasons, among others, who are interested in becoming medial interpreters, people who are going to Hispanic speaking country as a volunteer with a medical non-profit organization, or individuals who have a medical-related services and want to better assist their customers in the future.

The Hispanic population is growing in King County and Seattle. According to the Census Bureau demographics data about 10% of the population in King County is of the Hispanic origin. More and more pediatricians, emergency workers, social workers are finding in their daily routines patients who either speak limited English, or no English at all. Most of these clients are from Mexico. In hospitals and clinics they used medical interpreters. However, I heard through my students that budget cuts are affecting the quick availability of medical interpreters, as it happened in the past, and also they want to be able to speak some Spanish directly to their patients. Also the healthcare workers want to know more about cultural differences that may affect the way they need to communicate with their patients. I offer that basic cross-cultural tips in my Medical Spanish classes.

It is rewarding to know that the medical Spanish students can practice immediately what they learned in the classroom. It is a win-win situation, I assist the healthcare providers, and they feel better when they are have basic Spanish vocabulary to deal with their Hispanic speaking patients, or clients. Check out the catalog of the ASUW Experimetnal College for the Medical Spanish class or www.exco.org , or my web site www.spanishinseattle.com . The class is also listed in www.teachstreet in Seattle.

Urania Pérez

Spanish In Seattle, Director and Instructor