Learn Medical Spanish With These Online Courses for Professionals
When you learn medical Spanish, you come one step closer to saving a life or handling an emergency.
Medical professionals often encounter patients who only speak Spanish. Not being able to understand them can be stressful and overwhelming.
Healthcare is a sensitive and personal matter. When dealing with illnesses and complications, clear communication is key.
Mastering medical terms in Spanish goes a long way toward providing assistance. Whether you’re a nurse, a doctor, or a paramedic, it’s crucial for you to respond to such emergencies quickly and effectively—which is a lot easier to do without the language barrier.
Keep reading for a helpful lesson on how to learn medical Spanish with online courses!
Table of Contents
- Why Learn Spanish Medical Terms?
- How to Learn Medical Spanish: 6 Best Online Courses
- Try HSA! You’ll Love Our Medical Spanish Program
Why Learn Spanish Medical Terms?
Imagine you’re in a life-threatening emergency where the language barrier prevents you from communicating with a patient. Time, resources, and taking action are key when it comes to healthcare.
As the Spanish-speaking population grows, medical professionals are more and more likely to find themselves in a situation where a patient doesn’t speak English.
People who seek medical assistance often need immediate attention and want to improve their health. However, the chances of you securing an available interpreter on short notice are low.
Mastering medical terms and vocabulary is a game-changer for patient care. Effective communication allows you to get a deeper understanding of how your patient feels, their medical history, and other relevant details.
It also creates a more trusting relationship between you and your patients. They will see your commitment to their well-being and understanding them. And it empowers you to speak and explain the situation to their Spanish-speaking family members.
Check out: Your Ultimate Guide to Conditions, Illnesses, and Diseases in Spanish
The Difference Between Medical and General Spanish
Medicine is an extensive field that continues to evolve and improve. The branches of medicine have complex and specific terminology.
General medical Spanish is likely to give you a foundation, but if you are an anestesiologo (anesthesiologist) or a pediatra (pediatrician), the vocabulary you should know will vary.
It’s important for professionals who want to learn medical Spanish to distinguish the types of vocabulary you need to cover.
Medical professionals need to develop basic Spanish skills, while also covering a wide variety of topics such as:
- parts of the body
- physical signs
- internal organs
- allergies
- scales of pain
- medical charts
- therapies and treatments
- illnesses and disorders
- injuries
- symptoms
Source your antibiotics and over-the-counter medicine with this practical Vocabulary Guide to the Pharmacy in Spanish.
How to Learn Medical Spanish: 6 Best Online Courses
Multiple online courses exist for you to learn medical Spanish. Let’s examine seven of the options.
Taking an interest in learning medical Spanish proves you are a productive professional with immense potential. Take it even further by reading 8 Brain Benefits to Learning a Second Language.
1. Medical Spanish Masterclass
By Common Ground International Language Services
This 10-day course is available online for healthcare professionals who want to learn the essentials of medical Spanish.
It’s free and one of many language programs by Common Ground International Language Services.
This course gives you category 1 CME or CE Credits upon completion. These credits mean a physician has completed the requirements for an educational activity.
Another perk is that it’s 100% online. The downside is that the schedules aren’t flexible and you may miss the live practice sessions on Zoom if you’re not available.
This program focuses more on functionality than fluency. This makes sense but still poses a disadvantage. One of your goals is to master medical terminology, but improving pronunciation and fluency are just as important; as they are key to holding a conversation with confidence.
This course teaches you how to carry out a physical exam in Spanish successfully. Top it off with this list of Medical Spanish Phrases for Your Upcoming Physical.
2. Spanish for Medical Professionals I
by ed2go
This essential language program by ed2go is ideal for those who need basic medical phrases. It’s available in two modalities: self-paced and with an instructor.
Both options cost $149. The major benefit of this program is that you don’t need experience. It has a module that covers essential Spanish vocabulary related to colors, numbers, and verb conjugation. It also provides specific phrases for dealing with adult, children, and pregnant patients.
Recommended reading: How to Discuss Your Health in Spanish
The course consists of 24 hours divided into six weeks, and you get three months to access the online materials. The program is well defined and targets pediatrics, geriatrics, and family medicine.
Although you’ll be able to add this experience to your resume, you won’t receive a valid credential or official credit upon completion.
To dedicate more time to learning medical Spanish, enroll in Spanish for Medical Professionals II. The content is more advanced, but it follows the same structure.
3. Medical Spanish
by Lengalia
The Medical Spanish program by Lengalia includes 5 lessons with dialogue, exercises, specific vocabulary, and reading comprehension activities. It uses video and audio of conversations with native speakers to improve listening skills.
This course requires B1 level (intermediate) proficiency for enrollment. What’s more, you receive a certificate of completion that follows international standards from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
To learn medical Spanish with a free trial of this course, you need to register online. Lengalia also offers it as part of different paid subscriptions.
According to student reviews, the lessons eventually become monotonous since they lack interaction with a tutor.
4. Spanish Medical Terminology for Healthcare Professionals
by American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA)
The American Nursing Informatics Association offers a three-module Spanish medical terminology course online. The cost is $249 and includes a printable anatomy and medical vocabulary.
The interactive course targets pronunciation, listening, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, as well as sentence building. It covers basic vocabulary and the process of visiting a medical office and being in the examination room.
It takes 12 hours to complete and has a final assessment that grants an accredited CE certificate. You can rewatch the course upon completion for one year to keep the lessons fresh.
5. Medical Spanish Courses
Started by Spanish educators and healthcare professionals, MedicalSpanish.com offers a variety of online courses to learn medical Spanish.
Their courses target physicians, hospital and office nurses, medical assistants, emergency responders, physical and occupational therapists, and medical receptionists. The fees for enrollment range from $70 to $150.
Each course contains 25 chapters with six learning activities. You spend about an hour on each chapter. No previous experience is required; however, a pronunciation tutorial is recommended for students.
This course involves extensive written material. There isn’t much interaction with an instructor and little opportunity to practice conversation or get feedback.
A huge pro is that some courses in their repertoire are accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
6. Tailored Medical Spanish Courses
Homeschool Spanish Academy (HSA) offers the top courses to learn medical Spanish.
Their tailored programs for healthcare professionals include 5 immersive online lessons with certified, native Spanish-speaking teachers. Each lesson involves practicing relevant vocabulary that depends on the medical field of the student.
The HSA team teaches the students Spanish for conducting medical exams and interviews, as well as improving the use of technical vocabulary. The classes include assignments and plenty of live conversation. Your instructors support you in improving Spanish reading, listening, and pronunciation. These courses are also available for healthcare missionaries and volunteers.
It’s also worth highlighting that HSA offers group classes, schedule flexibility, and comfortable prices. What’s more, their experience enables them to fulfill the requirements for valid professional and language certifications.
Try HSA! You’ll Love Our Medical Spanish Program
Begin your Spanish journey by signing up for a free trial class with our teachers from Guatemala. Our effective and immersive Spanish programs will put you on the right track towards fluency and expand your Spanish communication skills to the next level.
Spanish is currently spoken by approximately 53 million people in the United States alone, a number set to continue growing in coming years. Medical professionals who learn Spanish have the potential of reaching more people and making healthcare more inclusive to others.
Check out HSA’s affordable pricing options.
Join one of the 40,000 classes that we teach each month and you can experience results like these
“HSA offers very affordable, quality, one on one classes with a native speaker. My son has greatly benefited from taking classes. We have seen his confidence increase as well as his pronunciation improve, because he learns from a native Spanish speaker. HSA has quick, personal customer service. Our family has been very pleased with our experience so far!”
– Erica P. Parent of 1
“HSA offers very affordable, quality, one on one classes with a native speaker. My son has greatly benefited from taking classes. We have seen his confidence increase as well as his pronunciation improve, because he learns from a native Spanish speaker. HSA has quick, personal customer service. I have appreciated the one on one interaction and teaching that my son gets from his teachers. He has gotten to know his teachers, which has increased his confidence in speaking Spanish. Our family has been very pleased with our experience so far!”
– Maple, Parent of 3
“I love that my children have the opportunity to speak with a live person. They get to practice Spanish in a 1-1 setting while improve their speaking, writing and reading skills during their lessons. HSA is a great way to learn Spanish for all ages! My children are 6, 9 and 11. My oldest two (9 and 11) have been taking classes with HSA for almost 2 years now. They love seeing their teacher each week. They understand the importance of learning several languages. I’ve seen them grow and learn with HSA. I’m excited to see how they will improve the more classes they take. I highly recommend them. You can’t bet learning and speaking with a live teacher. I’ve tried other programs. It’s just not as motivating.”
– Karie Ann, Parent of 3
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