Advanced Medical Spanish Academic Enrichment Elective Course Dates TBD
The Academic Enrichment Elective in Advanced Medical Spanish is designed to provide learners with preexisting Spanish fluency, instruction in advanced medical vocabulary and grammatical constructs. A key component of the course is exploring Latino culture and its relation to the delivery of effective health care among patients whose primary spoken language is Spanish. At the end of this course, students will be able to: 1. Use appropriately advanced vocabulary and grammar to elicit a medical history and conduct a physical examination in a linguistically-effective and culturally-appropriate manner. 2. Describe a diagnostic impression and treatment plan using appropriate vocabulary and grammatical constructs. 3. Demonstrate an understanding of the culture of Spanish-speaking patients as it relates to their medical care.
NOTE: At the end of this course, the student will not be prepared to replace the need for a translator or interpreter in medical or emergency situations.
Course Design The course will consist of approximately 16 hours of contact time (exclusive of reading): 1. Eight two-hour sessions of condensed didactic instruction, followed by extended conversational practice among fellow students and with Spanish-fluent volunteer instructors selected from Medical College of Wisconsin faculty, medical interpreters and interpreters-in-training, and community volunteers. 2. Clinical encounter: students will apply their skills by observing and conducting a patient history and physical examination in Spanish, in a community clinic site that services Spanish-speaking patients. 3. Reading/Textbook: the text for the course will be McGraw-Hill’s Complete Medical Spanish, Second Edition. Joanna Rios and Jose Fernandez Torres, The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2010. 4. Final Session: Students will demonstrate their competency in advanced medical Spanish by conducting a history and physical examination with a standardized patient selected from among the course instructors and volunteers.
Course size will be 25. M2 students will be given first priority in registration. Remaining spaces will be offered to M1 students, and if space allows, to M3 and M4 students.
Grading: Successful completion of the Academic Enrichment Elective in Medical Spanish will be noted on the student’s transcript. For more information contact: Brett Bordini, MD bbordini@mcw.edu and Susan Koethe, PhD skoethe@mcw.edu.