Medical Spanish Endocrinology Educational Module

Medical Spanish Graphic Activity: A MeGA Deliberate Practice Approach to Reducing Jargon Use With Spanish-Speaking Acute Care Patients

Introduction

Medical Spanish courses in US medical schools aim to teach patient-centered communication, yet many existing resources focus on technical vocabulary and may inadvertently increase jargon use with patients. Graphic medicine presents an opportunity for interactive learning that centers the patient experience, yet it has never been explored in medical Spanish education.

Methods

We developed a Medical Spanish Graphic Activity (MeGA) for medical student deliberate practice of patient-centered verbal communication focused on three aspects: diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. Each 30-minute activity included a comics handout depicting a patient with a common problem. Students used voice-to-text technology to record their explanations in response to prompts. Transcripts were analyzed for jargon use, including total jargon, unexplained jargon, and problem words (non-Spanish words plus unexplained jargon), utilizing a previously published, reliable protocol for Spanish medical jargon classification. Participants voluntarily provided postactivity feedback.

Results

Twenty-nine fourth-year students with intermediate or greater Spanish skills participated in a series of 10 MeGA activities between January and April 2022. Unexplained jargon use and problem words progressively decreased for all transcripts (diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up; all ps < .001). Total jargon use also decreased, but this was not significant in follow-up transcripts (p = .38). All students agreed that MeGA helped them enhance communication skills applicable to patient care and self-identify strengths and limitations.

Discussion

MeGA is realistic to implement, engages students' active participation in the speaking domain, and reduces unexplained jargon use. Future studies should explore the broader application of this model and engage patient perspectives.

Spanish medical jargon: A new metric for improving patient-centered communication with Spanish-speaking patients

OBJECTIVE

Reducing medical jargon improves patient-centered communication, which is a core objective of medical Spanish courses. We aimed to develop a reliable methodology for identifying and classifying Spanish medical jargon.

METHODS

Fourth-year medical students in a medical Spanish course recorded themselves explaining diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care during ten clinical scenarios. We developed a stepwise process for identifying and classifying Spanish medical jargon in the recording transcripts. Two reviewers scored jargon, unexplained jargon, and non-Spanish (neologisms/English) word counts. We evaluated jargon metric correlations with other course performance data.

RESULTS

We identified 439 Spanish jargon words and 134 non-Spanish words across 480 transcripts. Mean Spanish jargon per minute was 6.57, and 30% was classified as unexplained. Overall inter-rater reliability was excellent (interclass correlation=0.88). Students with post-course Spanish proficiency of "very good" or higher had less unexplained jargon in follow-up care transcripts (P < 0.05); other course outcomes did not correlate with jargon findings.

CONCLUSION

A Spanish medical jargon metric can be reliably used to evaluate student communication skills in a medical Spanish course. Next steps include engaging patient perspectives and exploring strategies to automate jargon analysis.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Spanish medical jargon adds a previously unexplored dimension to the assessment of Spanish-language patient-centered communication.