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Medical Spanish Standardization in U.S. Medical Schools: Consensus Statement From a Multidisciplinary Expert Panel
Pilar Ortega1, Lisa Diamond, Marco A Alemán
1P. Ortega is clinical assistant professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Medical Education, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5136-1805. L. Diamond is assistant attending, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service, Hospital Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York. M.A. Alemán is professor, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and director, Comprehensive Advanced Medical Program of Spanish, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. J. Fatás-Cabeza is associate professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and director, Undergraduate Translation and Interpretation Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. D. Magaña is assistant professor, Department of Literature, Languages and Cultures, University of California, Merced, Merced, California. V. Pazo is instructor, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and course director, Medical Spanish, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts. N. Pérez is director, School of Medicine Special Programs and Hispanic Center of Excellence, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. J.A. Girotti is assistant professor, Department of Medical Education, and director, Hispanic Center of Excellence, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois. E. Ríos is president, National Hispanic Health Foundation, Washington, DC.
Medical Spanish education lacks standards, risking patient safety. Experts recommend national guidelines for curriculum, competency, and assessment to improve communication with Spanish-speaking patients.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Health Communication
- Linguistic Competence
Background:
- Growing demand for Medical Spanish (MS) education among U.S. healthcare professionals.
- Absence of standardized curricula, evaluation, and assessment for MS skills.
- Identified risks to patient safety and quality of care due to communication barriers with Hispanic/Latino patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define national standards for teaching and applying MS skills.
- To establish curricular and competency guidelines for MS courses.
- To propose best practices for MS skill assessment and certification.
Main Methods:
- Convening a multidisciplinary expert panel in March 2018.
- Developing consensus recommendations for MS education and assessment.
- Proposing a framework for national standards and implementation.
Main Results:
- Consensus on creating a Medical Spanish Taskforce to define educational standards.
- Agreement to standardize core MS learner competencies and curricular structure.
- Recommendations for assessing MS skills via standardized patient encounters and a national certification exam.
Conclusions:
- Standardization of MS education and assessment is crucial for linguistically appropriate care.
- Development of a robust interinstitutional research strategy is needed.
- Collaboration among multidisciplinary stakeholders is essential to address the needs of the Spanish-speaking population.
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