A Spanish Language Module in a First-Year Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory Course

Abstract

Objective. To assess the impact of incorporating Spanish language lectures and activities in a required Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory course on first-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students' perceptions of and comfort level with Spanish-speaking patients and basic knowledge of Spanish pharmacy terms. Design. The 6-week module consisted of attendance at a 1-hour lecture on medical Spanish and Hispanic culture, and completion of 4 small-group activities: drug and product information, patient information, counseling and side effects, and a written scenario that involved filling a prescription for and counseling a Spanish-speaking patient. Assessment. All students enrolled in the Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory course in fall 2008 (153) and fall 2009 (152) completed a pre-and post-intervention questionnaire (100% response rate). Less than 4% of students considered themselves fluent in Spanish prior to participating in the Spanish language module. Students agreed or strongly agreed that it was important for pharmacists to be able to translate common pharmacy label instructions from English to Spanish (89.8%) and Spanish to English (73.8%). Student-reported confidence in their ability to pronounce common pharmacy and medical terms in Spanish significantly increased, as did their ability to correctly interpret pharmacy label instructions. Conclusions. While incorporation of a Spanish language module in a first-year Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory course did not result in students achieving fluency in Spanish, it was a beneficial method of exposing students to Spanish language and culture.

Effect of a Spanish-Language Training Module on Technical Vocabulary Acquisition

“…There are numerous accounts of other healthcare disciplines are responding to the need for Spanish-speaking providers with courses furthering students' understanding of Spanishlanguage terminology (Bender, Lawson, Harlan, & Lopez, 2004;Bloom, Timmerman, & Sands, 2006;Cobb, Perez-Brown, and Owens, 2011;Dinkins & Scolaro, 2012;Mazor, Hampers, Chande, & Krug, 2002). Mental health professionals have been one group of healthcare professionals that has used "ethnic matching" to pair Hispanic/Latino patients with bilingual providers (Castaño, Biever, González, & Anderson, 2007;Verdinelli & Biever, 2009).…”

Medical Spanish in U.S. Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy

“…Currently, there is a very small body of literature regarding Medical Spanish being taught in healthcare curricula throughout the U.S. Besides pharmacy schools, 3,4 Medical Spanish courses have been described in the literature for medical, 5,6 physical therapy, 7 physician assistant (PA), 8 and nursing schools. 9 Reuland and colleagues discussed the impact of immersion rotations on medical student Spanish fluency and found that medical students that had an intermediate to high baseline in Spanish fluency were more likely to increase their skill set as compared to those that did not have this experience.…”

“…Detailed information on Medical Spanish education for the pharmacy practice-specific setting is limited to case reports of mission trips, lectures, courses, and an outreach event. 3,4,[11][12][13][14] By understanding methods and strategies used by other institutions, the first step of the innovation process will be complete. To that end, this study was designed to determine characteristics of Medical Spanish education to pharmacy students in schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States.…”

Incorporating Spanish Language Instruction Into Health Sciences Programs in a Hispanic-Serving Institution

“…To produce graduates capable of the linguistically competent care that is championed in the aforementioned documents, many health professions educators have developed relevant training. Reflecting the predominance of people with LEP who speak Spanish (MPI, 2011), many curricula from institutions across the country include Spanish language training (Bloom, Timmerman, & Sands, 2006; Dinkins & Scolaro, 2012; Frasier, Davalos, & Nusbaum, 2005; Lusk, Chavez Baray, Palomo, & Palacios, 2014; Masin & Tischenko, 2007; Pechak, Diaz, & Dillon, 2014; Reuland, Frasier, Slatt, & Aleman, 2008; Reuland, Slatt, Aleman, Fernandez, & DeWalt, 2012; VanTyle, Kennedy, Vance, & Hancock, 2011). These models range from offering elective Spanish training opportunities (Lusk et al, 2014; Masin & Tischenko, 2007; Reuland et al, 2008; Reuland et al, 2012; VanTyle et al, 2011) to requiring students to participate in Spanish training (Bloom et al, 2012; Dinkins & Scolaro, 2012; Frasier et al, 2005; Pechak et al, 2014).…”

“…Reflecting the predominance of people with LEP who speak Spanish (MPI, 2011), many curricula from institutions across the country include Spanish language training (Bloom, Timmerman, & Sands, 2006; Dinkins & Scolaro, 2012; Frasier, Davalos, & Nusbaum, 2005; Lusk, Chavez Baray, Palomo, & Palacios, 2014; Masin & Tischenko, 2007; Pechak, Diaz, & Dillon, 2014; Reuland, Frasier, Slatt, & Aleman, 2008; Reuland, Slatt, Aleman, Fernandez, & DeWalt, 2012; VanTyle, Kennedy, Vance, & Hancock, 2011). These models range from offering elective Spanish training opportunities (Lusk et al, 2014; Masin & Tischenko, 2007; Reuland et al, 2008; Reuland et al, 2012; VanTyle et al, 2011) to requiring students to participate in Spanish training (Bloom et al, 2012; Dinkins & Scolaro, 2012; Frasier et al, 2005; Pechak et al, 2014). They also vary from offering a single Spanish course (Bloom et al, 2012; Dinkins & Scolaro, 2012; Frasier et al, 2005; Masin & Tischenko, 2007) to multiple, targeted opportunities to practice Spanish, incorporating role-playing in clinical courses and service-learning/clinical education experiences with Spanish-speaking individuals with LEP (Lusk et al, 2014; Pechak et al, 2014; Reuland et al, 2008; Reuland et al, 2012; VanTyle et al, 2011).…”