Saturday, June 27, 2009

Espanol para Nurses

Last night, while I was on rounds, the staff was looking at a book of medical Spanish. In a section of phrases that nurses should know it included translations for:

"You can smoke in your room."

and

"Please don't hang from the ceiling."


How useful is that? And not a single phrase for "don't pull out your IV" or "You're in a hospital, not a Hilton".

11 comments:

Unknown said...

"Uno cerveza por favor" wasnt in there either??

I <3 ur blog Doc G. I read tons of them and you've definately got it goin on. =)

Anonymous said...

Try eavesdropping on the night shift while they tell each other jokes in tagalog.

Rx Intern said...

I need to re-learn some spanish...being so close to the border requires some degree of knowledge in "medical spanish".

PB and J said...

Lol...Dr. grumpy, you crack me up. That's funny.

Anonymous said...

here are some basics from my own limited medical spanish in the ICU. "No Trizas"- no pulling "tienes dolor?" -do you have pain? "abra su boca"- open your mouth "abra su ojos" -open your eyes "abreitte me la mano" squeeze my hand "wavas las peiasas"- wiggle your toes "respeire profundo" take a deep breath. "Yo soy infermera" I am your nurse. and for the confused ones "Donde esta?" where is this? and my favorite "si se puede." yes you can!

Anonymous said...

regarding tagalog: I was friendly enough with one of the filipino lab staff at the hospital that she shared this with me: The lab staff used technical terms to refer to various people. So "reagent" meant the boss, and "antibody" meant an obnoxious co-worker. Then they'd gossip away in tagalog, periodically saying "reagent" and "antibody" -- eavesdroppers would think they were talking science.

Anonymous said...

How about , "No, your entire family of 13 can NOT spend the night in your semi-private room." and "Please do NOT light the candle to the Blessed Mother when Poppy is on high flow oxygen".

Pattie, RN

Anonymous said...

"wavas las peiasas"

I keep staring at it and I can't figure out what you were trying to spell.

Anonymous said...

I know "ultrasonido de vagina"... that's it.

Anonymous said...

this is AMERICA, so why aren't these patients/people, learning the english language. Don't really care how close to the border I am...what a pisser offer.

bellajuventina said...

if you guys need to learn some spanish words please contact me
efrivas_h@yahoo.com.mx

 
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