Serving Hispanics in Healthcare Settings -

The Academic Minor in Serving Hispanics in Healthcare Settings provides Spanish/English bilingual students with specific healthcare knowledge, a broad range of relevant medical Spanish terminology, and medical interpretation skills for students to become language-concordant professionals.

This program prepares City Tech students to develop a cultural understanding of medicine and illness in the Hispanic world to enhance the student’s skills in serving Spanish-speaking patients with limited English proficiency. In addition, this valuable knowledge will boost students’ career opportunities in the country’s multilingual settings and in other parts of the world.

The 12-credit academic minor consists of two required medical Spanish courses, SPA 2203 and SPA 3203, and two courses from a pool of electives in Communication, Health Sciences, and Latin American Studies. The course SPA 3203 fulfills the 40-hour training prerequisite required by NBCMI and CCHI for those seeking national certification.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of medical terminology in both Spanish and English and the corresponding transfer into the opposite language and use it properly in medical interactions;

• Understand the role and responsibilities of a medical interpreter within the context of their professional standard of conduct and code of ethics;

• Identify, understand, and address cultural issues that may affect the intended communication between patient and health provider and that derive from various attitudes, beliefs, expectations and points of views of Hispanic patients living in the United States, as they relate to medical emergencies, illness, folk medicine, and medical procedures;

• Develop cultural sensitivity through an understanding of Spanish-speaking patients' real-life situations in their country of origin and in the United States;

• Identify legal and ethical responsibilities when interacting with Spanish-speaking patients in a medical setting;

• Be prepared to take a national medical interpretation certification exam.

Advisement Information

If you’re interested in declaring and earning an academic minor in Spanish Language, please consult the Academic Minors page for more information about minors and to download the appropriate forms. The coordinators for this academic minor are Dr. David Sánchez Jiménez, DSanchezJimenez@citytech.cuny.edu and Dr. Noemi Rodriguez, NRodriguez@citytech.cuny.edu.

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