Medical Spanish Musculoskeletal and Dermatologic Educational Module

Introduction While many medical schools provide opportunities in medical Spanish for medical students, schools often struggle with identifying a structured curriculum. The purpose of this module was to provide a flexible, organ system-based approach to teaching and learning musculoskeletal and derma...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pilar Ortega, Itzel López-Hinojosa, Yoon Soo Park, Jorge A. Girotti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association of American Medical Colleges 2021-01-01
Series:MedEdPORTAL
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mededportal.org/doi/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11071
Description
Summary:Introduction While many medical schools provide opportunities in medical Spanish for medical students, schools often struggle with identifying a structured curriculum. The purpose of this module was to provide a flexible, organ system-based approach to teaching and learning musculoskeletal and dermatologic Spanish terminology, patient-centered communication skills, and sociocultural health contexts. Methods An 8-hour educational module for medical students was created to teach musculoskeletal and dermatologic medical communication skills in Spanish within the Hispanic/Latinx cultural context. Participants included 47 fourth-year medical students at an urban medical school with a starting minimum Spanish proficiency at the intermediate level. Faculty provided individualized feedback on speaking, listening, and writing performance of medical Spanish skills, and learners completed a written pre- and postassessment testing skills pertaining to communication domains of vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension as well as self-reported confidence levels. Results Students demonstrated improvement in vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and self-confidence of musculoskeletal and dermatologic medical Spanish topics. While students with overall lower starting proficiency levels (intermediate) scored lower on the premodule assessment compared to higher proficiency students (advanced/native), the postmodule assessment did not show significant differences in skills performance among these groups. Discussion An intermediate Spanish level prerequisite for this musculoskeletal and dermatologic module can result in skills improvement for all learners despite starting proficiency variability. Future study should evaluate learner clinical performance and integration of this module into other educational settings such as graduate medical education (e.g., orthopedic, rehabilitation, and dermatology residency programs) and other health professions (e.g., physical therapy and nursing).
ISSN:2374-8265