Communicating with Latino patients.
This article describes the efforts of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing to develop the Spanish language and cultural competency skills of advanced practice nursing students by establishing an elective course, Communicating with the Latino Patient. The need for this training is reflected in the literature, which has shown that language barriers decrease patient satisfaction and quality of care and increase the likelihood of medical error. Fifty-seven first-year master's students participated in this course. The effectiveness of the training was monitored during and after each course by self-assessment surveys of the participants' language acquisition. The data suggest that the most successful outcomes result from limiting class size, emphasizing high interactivity, and incorporating clinical experiences in the instruction, as well as focusing exclusively on intermediate-level speakers when resources are limited. Training can be time consuming and costly, yet graduates agreed that the training was imperative and valuable.
de Pheils
Pilar Bernal
PB
Department of Family Health Care Nursing, 2 Koret Way, Room N411Y, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0606, USA. pilar.bernal_de_pheils@nursing.ucsf.edu
Saul
Naledi Marie
NM
D057179:Advanced Practice Nursing / Q000193:education*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology; D003144:Communication Barriers; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000193:education*; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D019303:Multilingualism; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000208:ethnology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012495:San Francisco; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000193:education*