EMS Spanish

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emt584841

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Sorry if this is a re-post.

Hey guys I recently started working in an area where 90% of the population is Spanish speaking. My Spanish is pretty much limited to stand sit and a few others. Can you guys post some useful lines that I can use on calls so I don't feel completely useless.

Thanks
Brendan
 
Non Spanish speaker for a pain scale

Tiene dalor? Una escala de dalor, cero al diez.
Only thing I can ever remember ha, and its probably mot all correct anyways. Hand motions are key with myself and the Spanish speaker.
 
Cuando tienes dolor - where do you have pain
¿Está embarazada? - are you pregnant (you wouldn't ask a guy this question*)

¿Cuántos años tienes? - how old are you

escala de 1 a 10 ¿Cuál es su valoración del dolor - on a scale of 1-10 what is your pain
*unless you expect changes to the chassis.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thricenotrice said:
Non Spanish speaker for a pain scale

Tiene dalor? Una escala de dalor, cero al diez.
Only thing I can ever remember ha, and its probably mot all correct anyways. Hand motions are key with myself and the Spanish speaker.
Click to expand...
Make it "cero al cinco" so they can hold up fingers?

There are handbooks, pocket guides and all sorts of crib sheets for this. Suggest you start studying and using it as much as possible. Have some cards on hand for fairly rare phrases and discard them once you are not needing them. But make sure they are ok with a native speaker, preferably local. Cuban Spanish is not the same as Chihuahuan, Peruvian, Castillian, Chilean...and darned sure not like Brazilian (Portuguese) or Haitian (French).
 
La Imegra, Donde esta green card??? :P
 
emt584841 said:
Sorry if this is a re-post.

Hey guys I recently started working in an area where 90% of the population is Spanish speaking. My Spanish is pretty much limited to stand sit and a few others. Can you guys post some useful lines that I can use on calls so I don't feel completely useless.

Thanks
Brendan
Click to expand...

Brendan -

This is also a great opportunity for you! The fact is that a lot of people who are trying to learn a foreign language have trouble finding ways they can practice their skills, and would be envious of your situation. And the medical environment is great for the beginner.

I say that, because you can start off with a handful of yes/no, or limited response, phrases and questions. After all, you aren't asking "How has your day," and having to interpret the flood of information that follows. By contrast there are only so many responses to "¿Algo le duele?"

For example, I think I'm pretty good in talking with a patient (in Spanish) about their chest pain, or the mental status change grandma is having. But if the subject changes to "Hey, how about this weather we're having?," I'm sunk!

Get a book like this, that comes with CDs. These authors understand you don't have to know every tense or conjugation to get started.

¡Buen suerte!
 
I speak some janky spanish but it gets the job done with some hand motions as well. Translators are worth their weight in gold but even then you need to "dumb it down" so to speak. It's like the telephone game, the more complicated you make it the more chance there is for the translator to misunderstand your question and relay it wrong or do the same for the answer.
 
I've used the CDs from this program and found them useful as someone who speaks rudimentary spanish but gets tongue-tied and wanted phrases to memorize. It might be too fast-paced if you are starting from scratch.

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-EMS-Self-Teaching-Manual-Audio/dp/0763720690

Suggestions for useful phrases:

No se mueve (moo - EV - ay), por favor -- Don't move, please

No se preocupes (pre - o - COO - pays) -- Don't worry

Maybe these will buy you enough time to find a translator. :)
 
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Achilles said:
Cuando tienes dolor - where do you have pain
¿Está embarazada? - are you pregnant (you wouldn't ask a guy this question*)

¿Cuántos años tienes? - how old are you

escala de 1 a 10 ¿Cuál es su valoración del dolor - on a scale of 1-10 what is your pain
*unless you expect changes to the chassis.
Click to expand...

That would actually be "When do you have pain?", maybe a useful question as well. Donde tienes dolor? would be where.
 
http://www.synergyspanish.com/

Oh and without lots of explaining the pain scale to people not from the USA it is easier to use the face chart and have them point.
 
I'm using Rosetta Stone to learn, along with "Spanish for Health Care Professionals". It's getting me there. I wish I had taken Spanish in high school, rather than German... But there was a cute girl in my German class...

Anyway...

I also have an app called "Say Hi", a Spanish translator that has helped me out in the past. You speak or type and it translates and speaks. The patient speaks into it and its translated to English. Works pretty well.

dyvasu4a.jpg
 
Achilles said:
Cuando tienes dolor - where do you have pain
¿Está embarazada? - are you pregnant (you wouldn't ask a guy this question*)

¿Cuántos años tienes? - how old are you

escala de 1 a 10 ¿Cuál es su valoración del dolor - on a scale of 1-10 what is your pain
*unless you expect changes to the chassis.
Click to expand...


Tienes technically means "you have", but you'll piss off plenty of people using that. Tiene is the respectful way to conjugate that verb.

Not trying to nitpick (my Spanish is far from great), just a heads up.
 
Heh. "Tienes."

I had started off using solely the formal conjugation when addressing patients, so that I could show some respect and gain trust, even if my vocab or pronunciation was ugly.

As a result, though, children just laugh at me when I ask them "¿Donde le duele, usted?" They just think it's the funniest thing they've ever heard. Sort of on the level of "How would sir be feeling at present?"

So now it's hard to adjust to the informal, when I'm talking to peers/non-patients. It makes it awkward, as it conveys yet a different miscommunication - "I would prefer that you address me with more respect."

All in all, however, it's better than just shouting English.
 
Achilles said:
Cuando tienes dolor - where do you have pain
¿Está embarazada? - are you pregnant (you wouldn't ask a guy this question*)

¿Cuántos años tienes? - how old are you

escala de 1 a 10 ¿Cuál es su valoración del dolor - on a scale of 1-10 what is your pain
*unless you expect changes to the chassis.
Click to expand...

I was drinking water, and exhaled it through my nose. Thanks!:lol:
 
HiVis said:
Tienes technically means "you have", but you'll piss off plenty of people using that. Tiene is the respectful way to conjugate that verb.

Not trying to nitpick (my Spanish is far from great), just a heads up.
Click to expand...

Tiene would be the formal(usted) way, which would be used for adults you don't know or perhaps older people. I've never pissed anyone off using tienes, most people are grateful that there's someone who will try to speak their language, even if they speak English(albeit poorly), I've found they may be more receptive to answering questions in Spanish.
 
We used to use ATT Interpreter Services, but need a contract I believe. Call up the 800 #, give them your acct number and ask for a MEDICAL Spanish interpreter, and in seconds: Bueno!
 
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