UCF College of Medicine Leads the Way in Bilingual Medical Training

A new Spanish-language program offered in UCF's College of Medicine will better equip its students to serve patients in Florida - a state that ranks among the top four in the country for Latino populations and Spanish speakers.

UCF is the first medical school in Florida offering Spanish language certification through the national Physician Oral Language Observation Matrix exam.

The exam establishes the physician has demonstrated comprehension, vocabulary and pronunciation skills in Spanish to provide care to patients without an interpreter.

Three students have passed the exam already, four are awaiting results and 11 more are on the path to complete it. Two of the certified students recently found out on Match Day they are staying in Florida for their medical residency programs.

"The exam represents a meaningful milestone because it validates that a student can provide safe, language-concordant care in clinical settings," says Analia Castiglioni, assistant dean and director of the Spanish language program.

Elevated Care for Florida's Patients

Data shows that communications problems are the most frequent root cause of serious patient safety events such as mismanagement of medications. Patients with limited English language proficiency face higher levels of such risk.

The College of Medicine offers Spanish as its language focus to meet the state's healthcare needs. Florida ranks as one of the top four states in the country for in Spanish speakers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 22% of Floridians report speaking Spanish at home.

"When the care team and the patient share a common language, something important happens," Castiglioni says. "Trust develops more quickly, patients share more complete information, and care becomes safer and more compassionate."

Not Your Average Spanish

Fourth-year medical student Rodolfo Rodriguez came to Florida from South America when he was young and spoke Spanish and English at home. While he is bilingual, he needed to learn medical Spanish to be a more effective physician.

"Household Spanish is much more casual and you're not using terms that are prevalent in the medical field," Rodriguez says. "There are also words that don't directly translate the same, like 'stroke.' In Spanish, you wouldn't say 'stroke' you'd say 'accidente cerebrovascular' which literally means 'cerebrovascular accident.'"

He wanted to specialize in rehabilitative medicine after witnessing his father recover from a motorcycle accident. Last week, he matched into the University of Miami's physical medicine and rehabilitation program.

"I'm overjoyed, and I know my dad is too," he says. "Many people here in Florida don't speak English as a first language, so being able to use my medical Spanish to help these patients feel comfortable through the rehab process is something I know will make a difference."

The training is equally as valuable to non-native speakers like fourth-year M.D. candidate Elizabeth Durkin. She says UCF's structured program helped strengthen the Spanish skills she studied throughout her education, and she wants to continue building her proficiency. She passed the national certification, and this summer will begin her neurology residency in neurology at HealthONE in Englewood, CO.

"Being able to speak directly with non-English speaking patients has been a goal of mine for a long time," says Durkin, who used to translate doctor's visits for her Russian-speaking grandparents. "I'd like to say I did this to honor my family and my grandparents."

Certification Program Details

Students are eligible to take the Medical Spanish electives in the summer before their second year of medical school, before they go into clerkships at hospitals and clinics, and/or in their fourth year.

In addition to formal Spanish language education, they practice obtaining patient histories and provide treatment plans in Spanish with standardized patients in the College of Medicine's Clinical Skills and Simulation Center. Every patient encounter is taped and evaluated by Brenda Perez, who is a Certified Healthcare Interpreter™ in Spanish, the medical curriculum program manager at the College of Medicine and a casual Spanish interpreter at Nemours Children's Hospital in Lake Nona.

The college hopes to expand the program to continue meeting the community's needs.

"My vision is for the program to continue growing," Castiglioni says. "That means building strong partnerships with clinical sites that serve Spanish-speaking communities and creating opportunities for our students to rotate in those settings, where their language skills can directly enhance patient care."

College of Medicine students interested in learning more about the medical Spanish program may email [email protected].

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