9 Excellent Medical Spanish Courses Online for Healthcare Professionals

If you’re a healthcare professional or hope to become one, you likely understand that learning medical Spanish takes you beyond the one-off mission trip you may take as an intern or the typical mid-air emergency of a movie scene. Your linguistic skills in mastering medical Spanish will be relevant in the everyday experience of your career, especially if you plan to work in the United States.

There are three main reasons that medical professionals should learn to speak Spanish. 

1. Save lives in critical situations

Currently, the United States has the second-largest Spanish-speaking population after Mexico, hitting a record high of 60.6 million Spanish speakers in 2019.  

Being bilingual in your chosen field will strengthen you with a superpower—that is, to gather critical, real-time Spanish information in an emergency situation without having to rely on the presence of a translator.  

2. Connect with your patients

For those of you who work directly with patients, your focus isn’t only about treating illness and administering medicine, but expressing empathy and helping them to feel comfortable and safe.  

The first step in accomplishing this is to speak your patient’s native language. 

3. Earn more than your monolingual counterparts

It is generally more cost-effective for a hospital or clinic to hire bilingual staff than to pay for a third-party interpreter. According to a George Washington University survey, 74% of US hospitals serve patients who speak English as a foreign language. Of those hospitals, 15% offer financial incentives to doctors and staff for knowing a foreign language and, of these, three-quarters offer base salary increases ranging from $20 extra per hour, or bonuses up to $500. 

In sum, by broadening your medical knowledge to include Spanish, you’ll save more lives, make deeper connections, and earn more money.

Who wouldn’t want that!

Now, there’s a catch. Medical Spanish is not the same as general Spanish. In fact, you can be fluent in Spanish without being fluent in medical Spanish. So what exactly does medical Spanish entail?

Let’s take a look at 9 medical Spanish courses online. The core elements of medical Spanish that you’ll learn in these courses are:

• Anatomical vocabulary
• Medical terminology
• Procedural terminology
• Doctor-patient relationship and 
• Cultural appropriateness

As a healthcare professional, you must be aware of these crucial linguistic and cultural elements in order to provide quality care to your Spanish-speaking patients. 

Tips for Medical Students

Nurses, physicians, emergency responders, and physical and occupational therapists all benefit from knowing medical Spanish. With that being said, these professionals are often the most strapped for time, especially time to study. Let’s explore some tips to help you learn the impressive amount of Spanish information you’ll cover in your medical Spanish courses.

1. Keep your medical Spanish dictionary on hand

To make sure you have all the vocabulary you need in the palm of your hand. 

2. “Chunk” your vocabulary or learn them in categories

A favored technique in absorbing large chunks of information is to break it into smaller chunks that share the same categories. 

Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals to learn a certain category or certain amount of words within a category. 

3. Target your focus on the most relevant areas

Target your focus to the medical terms you’ll use the most often. For example, if you know you’re going on a vaccination-oriented medical mission trip, you might want to focus your vocabulary on vaccination-related words and phrases. 

4. Remember you’re not alone!

There are countless online resources available to you, including groups of people who teach medical Spanish and those who supply medical Spanish certifications. Reach out to other medical professionals who are proficient in medical Spanish to get their advice. Or, sign up for one of the following medical Spanish online courses!

Medical Spanish Courses Online

1. medicalspanish.com

medicalspanish.com offers medical Spanish classes specializing in different areas of healthcare such as hospital nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, emergency responders, medical assistants, physical therapists, and medical receptionists, etc.

Link to course 

Structure of course: Courses are completely online. You can study at any time you want. For each chapter, there are six learning activities. Each activity takes about 5-10 minutes to complete.

Time investment: 25 hours

Price: $60-$150

Certification: Yes

2. Canopy Learn 2.0 

Canopy is designed to teach you medical Spanish with the convenience and portability of a phone app. They offer a strong course curriculum online that serves a wide range of proficiency levels, from beginner all the way to native speakers. These courses can be on the pricier side of things but they offer continuing education (CE) Credits and a certificate in return. It’s certainly worth a look!

Link to course 

Structure of course: modules separated into 15-minute chunks in order to easily incorporate the lessons into a busy schedule. Longer form interactive activities are also available. Courses are divided into three different proficiency levels so advanced speakers don’t have to take the entire course.

Time investment: 40 hours

Price: $225-$525

Certification: Yes

3. ed2go Spanish for Medical Professionals

Ed2go offers medical Spanish lessons that you can either take by yourself or with a teacher online. This is a great option for total beginners, because they provide a refresher on basic Spanish before diving into medical Spanish basics. You can later take their more advanced courses if you want to further expand your medical Spanish knowledge base!

Link to course 

Structure of course: The course can be taken alongside a teacher or by yourself at your preference. You will learn basic Spanish such as numbers and simple conjugation. Later, you’ll move on to more complex topics such as body parts, common medical problems, appointments, emergencies, etc. 

Time investment: 24 hours over 6 weeks

Price: $149

Certification: Yes

4. Udemy’s Medical Spanish Course

Udemy’s known for their vast array of online courses, so it’s no surprise they have a medical Spanish course too! This one offers fewer hours of content than the others, but it might be easier to pay the $50 price in comparison to the other ones. Udemy usually has sales and special offers for new accounts, so be sure to check them out.

Link to course

Structure of course: You’ll learn theSpanish questions for the PQRST method of pain assessment, as well as the names of common medications, body parts, common patient responses, and how to give directions for use. 

Time investment: 2.5+ hours

Price: $50

Certification: Yes

5. Lengalia Medical Spanish Course

Lengalia offers you multimedia resources, live tutors, reading materials and exercises for the duration of your subscription. Right now they have a sale that ends on May 2020, so if you’re reading this then, you might want to check them out. They are still somewhat more affordable than some of the other options on this list without the discount.

Link to course

Structure of course: 5 blocks that talk about hospitalization, appointments, operations and emergencies. All lessons have a dialogue section, specialized texts, and a variety of interactive exercises with which you will be able to practice and enhance your knowledge. Every lesson has a chapter on vocabulary with the words and indispensable expressions which will allow you to communicate in a spontaneous and clear manner. 

Time investment: 1 month / 3 months / 12 months

Price: $33-$132

Certification: Yes

Free Medical Spanish Resources

6. Language Tailor

Language Tailor’s YouTube channel has dozens of useful medical Spanish videos. 

7. Common Ground International

The Common Ground YouTube channel has over 200 medical Spanish videos to fit your needs! A great and exhaustive source of reference material.

8. Medical Dictionary Apps for Android and iOS

You can also download medical dictionary apps for Android and iOS phones to help you out! 

9. Medical Spanish Audio App

This great app will help you with a huge list of medical Spanish topics. This is sure to come to the rescue when you’re in a pinch! It has both Android and iOS versions available.

Thank You for Your Dedication!

Healthcare professionals constantly dedicate themselves to improving the lives and health of other people. The fact that you want to include Spanish in your practice is commendable! By using the tips and resources that we shared  today, you’ll be speaking Spanish in no time. To boost your Spanish speaking skills, take a free trial class with Homeschool Spanish Academy and learn from one of our certified teachers.

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