Bienvenidos. Welcome to Spanish for Nurses. On behalf of Capela University, I would like to thank you for investing the time to take this customized program in order to better serve your Spanish speaking patients.
We aim to help nurses and practitioners, no matter where you are on your path to communicating with your Spanish speaking patients. This program is designed for someone with no prior background in Spanish, but has also been used by native speakers who wish to learn technical and specific terminology for the nursing profession. Me llamo Stephanie Langston.
I'll be your virtual instructor and guide for this program. I'm a Spanish professor at Georgia State University Perimeter College, and I own my own business, which customizes Spanish continuing education programs. While I was in college, I worked as a pharmacy technician, and I interpreted for the pharmacy Spanish speaking patients. The input of over 200 nurses was incorporated into this program, including that of my two sisters, who are nurses.
I studied in Spain and Costa Rica, and my husband and I adopted two children from Colombia. Having traveled to 49 countries, the importance of speaking another language is a tool I have used many times, and connecting to those with different cultural backgrounds is a cause near and dear to my heart. I have 15 years of experience in developing curriculum for and in teaching in the online modality.
Later in this into lesson, you will learn some valuable cultural notes. Be sure to review the statistics included. Together, these will help you to have a better understanding of your Spanish speaking patients and their preferences. This program has been customized to teach you only the Spanish that you need to know for your profession.
You'll first learn vital pronunciation skills since you will be speaking, the language much more often than you will be writing it. Then you'll learn grammatical formulas that will enable you to put together any necessary phrase or sentence for a variety of situations. You will only learn the grammar that you need. No cumbersome verb conjugation drills.
Additionally, the program provides some basic terminology, which is good for any situation. This includes greetings, days, numbers, and times. You'll also learned about Hispanic names in this section for correct identification and filing. This section will premiere for what's to come.
It will also enable you to engage in simple conversation with any Spanish speaker, which is critical in gaining a patient's trust. The last three modules are vital as they contain all the specific medical terminology you will need. In the fifth module, you'll learn all of the phrases related to pain assessment, the PQRSTs, and you'll learn body parts and medications in Spanish. You'll also learn important vaccination phrases.
The sixth module teaches symptoms and medical conditions in order to obtain accurate health histories. In the second module, you will learn the Spanish you need in order to perform complete physical assessments and to discuss insurance. These three modules contain expressions that are already put together for your use. They also contain the most common patient responses in Spanish, so that you will understand what your patients are saying back to you.
To get the full benefit of this program, choose a quiet place, where you can practice without interruption, and choose a time when your mind is alert. Simply follow the tutorials. You'll have video or audio for nearly the entire program.
You may pause the lesson at any time. Retention more than doubles when you can hear and see the language at the same time. Practice activities and practice milestones are built into this program inside the SOPHIA platform. There will be a pause after a phrase is spoken in Spanish in order to give you time to repeat or reply.
Since you are learning a new language, it is critical that you speak in a normal, conversational voice when you respond. After you say the phrase or ask a question, you will hear the phrase repeated for reinforcement. Your active participation is essential for your success and learning this course material.
It is important to note that this is a reference course. The teaching portion is meant to orient you to the subject matter. You will learn by continuously practicing the phrases you find most helpful and useful. Practice as often as you can.
The more you listen and practice your new language, the more comfortable you will be communicating in it. Practice makes perfect. Good luck, and thank you, again, for your commitment to your patients. [NON-ENGLISH]
¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to Spanish for Nurses. Congratulations on your decision to learn Spanish! In taking this course, you are ensuring optimal service to your patients as well as expanding your personal development.
This program has been customized to teach you only the Spanish you need for your profession. In this first module, you’ll learn vital pronunciation skills since you will be speaking the language much more frequently than you will be writing it.
In the second and third modules, you’ll learn grammatical formulas that will enable you to put together any necessary phrase or sentence for a variety of situations. You will only learn the grammar you need.
The fourth modules in the program provides some basic terminology, which is good for any situation. This includes greetings, numbers, days, and times. This section will prime you for what’s to come, and will also enable you to engage in small talk with any Spanish speaker.
The last three modules in the program are vital, as they contain all of the specific nursing terminology that you will need. They cover body parts, symptoms, conditions, drugs, pain radiation, physical assessments, insurance information, and patient information, among other topics. These lessons contain expressions that are already put together for your use, as well as easy formulas for you to create your own phrases.
This is a long program with a lot of material. In order to increase your retention and learn the content as effectively as possible, we recommend that you follow the tips below:
As you begin to learn the Spanish language, it's important to understand some relevant cultural definitions and traits of native Spanish speakers.
First, here are two important definitions that are often confused:
[MUSIC PLAYING] Now let's see if your casual observations can guide you to answer the following questions about Latinos and European Americans.
Number one, which group is more emotionally expressive in public communication? The Latinos are. Although if you observe them in communication with European Americans, they're more reserved. But if you witness them in communication with other Latinos, you'll notice a very high level of emotional expression.
Number two, which group prefers a more direct approach in communication? European Americans. They tend to be more linear and chronological in thought. They tend to think what comes next in a chronological way, what comes after that, what happened previously, and it's all very linear, whereas Latinos prefer a more circular thought process, whereby they are processing multiple things at once and not necessarily in the chronological order in which they take place.
Number three, in which group is self-sufficiency valued at the highest? That would be the European Americans. The identity orientation of European Americans is individualism. Thus, European Americans tend to have the goal of becoming self-sufficient in their adult lives and to being able to provide for themselves, whereas Latinos are more collateral. They're tied to the identity of other family members, where decisions are made with regard to family needs first, before individual needs. They think of themselves more in terms of their relatives and who they are linked to and less in terms of their own individual person.
For which group is punctuality least important? That would be for the Latinos. The reason is that in the European-American culture, time is thought of as linear and monochromatic-- that is, one thing or one person at a time should be given full attention.
Time is conceptualized as having a past, present, and future, and is often thought of as a real object which should be saved and not wasted. It is not seen as a human-made abstraction. People often speak of losing, wasting, and finding time. Many European Americans feel pressured by the passage of time, and consequently, tend to behave in an efficient, task-oriented way. We take great pride in saving time and in finding ways to multitask.
If a person has an appointment with you at 3 o'clock, most European Americans would begin to be affronted if the person is not there by a few minutes after 3:00, and would want an explanation of why they are not. This behavior can be interpreted by members of other cultures as cold. US Americans may be seen as having little interest in personal relationships and trust-building, valuing efficiency over personal relationships.
Latinos tend to operate in a polychronic fashion-- that is, many activities may be going on at once, and priority is always given to the immediate needs of people, especially those involved in one's own collateral or familial network. Time is a fluid concept to them.
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If you are struggling with a concept or terminology in the course, you may contact [email protected] for assistance.
If you are having technical issues, please contact [email protected].
Source: This content has been adapted from "Spanish for Nurses" by Stephanie Langston.
