Medical Spanish Course

Medical Spanish Non-Credit Elective

Through the use of interactive small group classes, community service opportunities and cultural competency lectures, the Medical Spanish Non-Credit Elective is designed to give medical students an opportunity to learn and practice many of the expressions, common questions and answers, and terminology used when interacting with Spanish speaking patients.  The overall goal is to improve medical students’ conversation for use in medical interviewing and patient communication.

Throughout the academic year, the course offers 10 small group sessions (1.5  hours/session), lectures on proper use of a medical interpreter and Latino culture, and community service experiences.

Eligible participants:

This course is only open to medical students.

Enrollment:

Enrollment is done electronically during the second week of August. Class rosters are posted on the bulletin board outside the Office of Multicultural Affairs, room C223. 

Classroom Sessions:

The Medical Spanish classes are divided into 4 levels of fluency: Beginner, Intermediate- Low & High, and Advanced.  The Beginner and Intermediate levels consist of small group didactic and interactive role-playing classes to maximize students’ potential to learn key concepts. The Advance level curriculum is primarily interactive role-playing with concepts commonly used in a clinical setting. Each level is taught by a Medical Spanish instructor and has a maximum class size of 25 students.

Objectives:

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

1. Translate basic anatomy from English to Spanish, and vise versa.

2. Initiate conversation with Spanish speaking patients.

3. Apply medical Spanish terminology to obtain a basic history and facilitate

    performance of a physical examination of patients.

4. Advocate use of a qualified interpreter when the encounter goes beyond

    the student’s level of understanding.

5. Discuss cultural practices and health beliefs unique to the Hispanic

    community.

6. Discuss the Office for Civil Rights and other legal guidelines for physicians

     caring for the Limited English Proficient Patient.

Credit Requirements:

Students who successfully fulfill the requirements will receive a notation of completion on their academic transcript.

To receive credit for the course, participants must fulfill the following by May 31:

1. Complete 10 out of 12 classroom/lecture sessions.

2. Participate in 2 community service events that serve patients whose primary language is Spanish.

Faculty Advisor, Dr. Sonia Garcia Laumbach (sgarcia@umdnj.edu)

Program Coordinator, Cynthia Ferrer-Cespedes (ferrercl@umdnj.edu)

Student Coordinators, Laura Parente (parentlp@umdnj.edu) and Veronica Demtchouk (demtchve@umdnj.edu)

Link to Medical Spanish course here.

Click here for a link to PowerPoint Presentation from Dr. Javier I. Escobar (Associate Dean for Global Health) entitled, "Global Mental Health: Focus on Latino Populations."