Hola, como se siente?

I finished up geriatrics in September in Chicago and was supposed to start an ER elective at hospital I once was an ER tech in for October. In a strange turn of events, I found out last minute that my rotation was at a non-ACGME site so with 2 business days and a weekend, I had to find new rotation to start Monday. If not, I’d have to sit out a month or travel back to NY in order to graduate on time.

So after tons of phone-calls, emails and prayers, I finally ended up on a family practice rotation here in Chicago in a Spanish-only clinic. At first, my school and the hospital were reluctant to let me start the rotation, reluctant meaning they flat out wouldn’t let me. I took 4 years of high school Spanish and while in NY, participate in a language exchange group, yet my Spanish isn’t quite up to par. So out of desperation determination, I begged to do the rotation in hopes that I would pick up. I have good comprehension since Spanish is similar to Tagalog and Italian, but my conversational medical Spanish is not very good.

Armed with my Medical Spanish dictionary that I picked up at Barnes & Noble on the way into my first day, I struggled through talking with patients on my first day, eventually involving the MA’s to help translate.  For the past week and a half, I have been reading through this dictionary, doing Rosetta Stone and forcing myself to remember my vocabulary. I tell all of my Spanish-speaking patients, “Entiendo mucho pero hablo un poquito de Espanol. Asi que hableme despacio por favor.”  which means “I understand a lot but I speak a little Spanish. So please speak slowly.” My patients’ seem excited that I’m trying to learn and speak their language. It’s amazing how much I picked up and now and doing full interviews with patients and families, and slowly on the road to being fluent!

So this month began as a stressful mess, but has turned into a great opportunity for me to learn more about family practice and to become more bilingual, an important advantage for the future.