Departments and Common Medical Terms in Spanish

00:01 Let's look at some common terms you may use in a healthcare setting.

00:06 Imagine entering a hospital, a clinic, or a doctor's office.

00:12 What are some common, identifiable words? First, you'll probably see the people.

00:20 The doctor is called "el doctor," or if a female doctor, "la doctora." Both mean the doctor.

00:30 The nurse is called "el enfermero" if a male nurse.

00:36 If they are a female nurse, they are called "la enfermera." Imagine the infirmary. That's where you go to get better.

00:48 "La enfermera" or "el enfermero" help you get better! There may be specific areas that you need to visit.

00:59 You might need to go to the emergency room or "la sala de emergencias." If it's a true emergency, - "emergencia" or "sala de emergencias" will do just fine.

01:14 "Sala" means room and "emergencia" is, you guessed it, emergency.

01:22 Other common departments include: Internal medicine or "Medicina interna" Pediatrics: "Pediatría" Mental health: "Salud mental" Oncology: "Oncología" Radiology: "Radiología" Pathology: "Patología" Pharmacy: "Farmacia" That was a lot of departments.

01:55 So here's what I want you to do.

01:57 I want you to understand the name of your department and the departments that you work directly with.

02:06 Let's say that you are in a patient's room and there are a few really key terms that they need to understand for you to explain the course of care.

02:17 Even if you can't speak in full sentences, these words can be critical to enhancing the patient's understanding.

02:26 First, "la infección" is - you guessed it, (the infection.) "La sangre" is blood.

02:38 You might say, "tipo sanguíneo = A B or O" This is blood type A, B or O.

02:48 "La medicina" means medicine.

02:53 You might get this at the pharmacy, which in Spanish is "la farmacia." You might also use the word "El laboratorio" or the lab.

03:05 Here you could simply say, the lab.

03:10 You will also hear the word "El dolor" which means pain.

03:17 You might have "la medicina" to help with "el dolor." So, you have medicine to help with the pain.

03:27 Okay, so that was a lot of words.

03:29 So here's what I want you to do.

03:31 I want you to work on at least two of these words at a time.

03:37 Find opportunities to use these within your care.

03:42 Start with the Spanish phrases for medicine, and pain, which are... "La medicina" and "el dolor!"