Why should healthcare professionals learn
Spanish?
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In Arizona a sizeable portion of our population has
Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The Arizona Health Futures Report in
its Policy Primer: Struggle
to Communicate: Medical Interpretation in Arizona cites a
critical need for medical professionals to be able to communicate with LEP
patients in life-threatening medical situations. The report suggests
that the need is for medically and linguistically competent interpreters of
Spanish. Trained medical interpreters, however, can expect to
make from only $11.00 to $15.00 an hour according to the Report, which is not
much of an incentive to pay for adequate training. The real need is for
medical professionals themselves to be able to communicate directly with
their patients and that is what this series of courses provides. Furthermore, a Spanish speaking patient needs to be
able to put trust in the provider and hear the provider directly not via an
interpretation service via telephone or via an ad hoc interpreter who may be
a medically unsophisticated family member. The Report even cites a
situation in which not even an ad hoc interpreter was present to
communicate with a patient who had appendicitis. The patient died
because of the delay in diagnosis. There is no reason for this to ever
be repeated in our state. These courses in Healthcare Spanish will provide what
Arizona really needs via the ¡SALUD! program which teaches not only enough
Spanish to properly communicate with patients, but also provides
understanding of the differences in Latin American culture which
impact how those patients need to be approached in medical treatment. |