         
|
|
|
|
1st appeared 15 September 1999 Medical Students Gain New Perspective into Patient Care "Por favor puede sacar su lengua?" This simple question was an important start for one first-year medical student who hopes to communicate directly with the large number of Spanish-speaking patients she expects to encounter practicing medicine in California.
"I may not be able to carry on a complicated conversation," says UCSF medical student Robin Perry, "but at least I know how to say, ‘Stick out your tongue’ in Spanish." Perry was one of eight first-year medical students who participated, earning six units and a new perspective on their medical education. Describing her experience as "phenomenal," Perry says she was motivated to take the class after working at a Bay Area hospital that had only two Spanish-speaking staff. There she witnessed the poor communication that results when there aren’t enough foreign language skills to go around. "You definitely lose something of the doctor-patient relationship if you have to rely on an interpreter," Perry says. Course organizers say one of their goals was to introduce medical students to the San Joaquin Valley and attract prospective physicians to practice in the area, which has a high Hispanic population. The program was designed to sensitize medical students to different cultural models and, ultimately, increase the number of Spanish-speaking physicians. The most recent US Census Bureau statistics place the Hispanic population of Fresno County at 41 percent, compared to 16 percent in San Francisco County and 30 percent statewide. Census figures for 1990 also show that Spanish is by far the most common non-English language spoken throughout the nation, with 17.3 million people speaking Spanish at home. (French, the second most common language, follows far behind with just under 2 million.) "I am very proud of this program because I know our Latino patients will benefit in addition to our students," says Adriana Padilla, assistant clinical professor of family and community medicine and director of Undergraduate Medical Education. Conceived by Michael Drake, senior associate dean for Admissions and External Programs, the program received input and support from new Fresno Associate Dean Deborah Stewart, vice dean for education David Irby, Community Hospitals of Central California, and San Joaquin Valley community clinics. A typical day in the program began with four classroom hours of medical Spanish conversation, followed by clinical skills in pulmonary, cardiovascular, abdominal and genitourinary systems. Clinical training included normal and selected abnormal adults and children. Students spent Wednesdays reinforcing their language skills with preceptors and real patients in clinics serving Spanish-speaking populations. "The best teachers were the ones who didn’t tell us what the problem was before we did the exam," Perry says. She particularly appreciated the chance to perform an entire pelvic exam on Spanish-speaking patient educators, an experience usually reserved for second-year training. She also was able to listen to heart murmurs and lung sounds, see abdominal hernias, and examine a patient with classic findings of hepatitis and cirrhosis. The class was not without its logistical problems, however. The students who enrolled had different Spanish-speaking abilities coming into the class, Padilla says, which necessitated hiring an additional language tutor and splitting the group into two levels. Another challenge -- the difficulty of providing clinical skills training in Spanish -- was mitigated by taking certain cases back to the classroom and reenacting them with help from the Spanish instructor. "In addition to the Spanish, the hands-on experience will definitely give me an edge when we get on the wards during third year," Perry says. Contingent on funding, Padilla hopes to offer the class again next year, making refinements based on what was learned this year. Latino Center for Medical Education and Research Source: Patti Meagher |
||
DAYBREAK | ARCHIVES | CALENDAR
| CAMPUS NOTES Copyright ©1999 Regents of the
University of California. All rights reserved. |
||
Medical
Spanish and Clinical Skills, a joint program of UCSF, UCSF-Fresno, and
the Latino Center for Medical Education and Research, wrapped up its
first session this summer, meriting enthusiastic reviews from organizers
and students alike. The course combined a formal Spanish didactic with
clinical training in a Spanish-speaking setting.