Health care professionals in the Oxford and north Mississippi area can enhance communication with their Spanish-speaking patients through a specialized workshop created especially for them. Next month, the University of Mississippi’s Communiversity program will offer a short series of classes on “Spanish for Health Care Professionals.”
Local health care professionals can learn terms and phrases that will be helpful when working with Spanish-speaking patients in various clinical situations. The classes are taught by UM Pre-College Programs Counselor Ari Lugo.
“Due to the amount of people in our community who do not speak English at a high proficiency, it is crucial for them to be understood and to understand instructions when it comes to their health care,” Lugo said.
To help medical office staff, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and physicians learn to bridge the communications gap, the class will begin with the basics of Spanish pronunciation and then move right into simple words for everyday topics, such as question words, colors and so on. With the basics covered, participants will discover more about how to ask about pain, symptoms, medical histories, insurance, patient feelings and terminology for parts of the body, diets, medical care and treatment.
The workshop will meet on the Oxford campus in Lamar Hall, Room 133, with sessions taking place Sept. 13, 15, 20 and 22. Each session runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The cost for all four sessions is $85.
“When a medical professional tries to understand or communicate with a patient in their first language, I think it helps to lower the anxiety of the patient,” Lugo said. “Patients can be a little more comfortable and hopefully have the assurance that the doctor’s office or hospital personnel really care and that they are trying to communicate to help make healing possible.”
Communiversity programs are open to anyone in the community, including retirees, Ole Miss students and family members of all ages. To register for this course, visit http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/communiversity or call 662-915-7158.
Courtesy of Pam Starling and the Ole Miss News Desk
