Lifespan medical group is encouraging hospital personnel to take classes to better converse with Hispanic patients.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 7, 2004

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Menos sal. Less salt. Menos azucar. Less sugar. Dietitian Joyce Cooper finds herself dispensing nutritional advice to her patients at Rhode Island Hospital in both Spanish and English every week.

That's no surprise, given the exponential growth of Rhode Island's Hispanic population. According to U.S. Census data, Hispanics are the state's largest minority group, representing about one-tenth of the population. In 2003, the state's Hispanic population had reached roughly 99,000 people.

Not all of them speak English -- a particular concern to the medical community that treats them.

"We've seen a steady increase in the volume of limited English proficient patients over the years," said Bill Kirkpatrick, director of clinical social work and interpreter services for the Lifespan medical group.

Rhode Island Hospital, part of Lifespan, and the Community College of Rhode Island started talking more than a year ago about how to teach basic Spanish skills to more medical staff.

"We want to move toward a more sensitive approach, where we have tiers of interpreters," Kirkpatrick said -- from bilingual medical staff who can explain complicated medical information in Spanish to hospital personnel who are able to convey basic information.

This summer, CCRI hired a company that specializes in workplace Spanish, and instructor Jose Murillo tailored his lesson plans for the hospital community. Two groups of 15 medical personnel took free eight-week courses. Doctors, nurses, financial advocates, dietitians, therapists and lab technicians signed up for the classes, and each learned Spanish phrases most helpful to them in their particular specialty.

"The critical part is the time doctors and nurses have to spend waiting for interpreters, when they could be treating the patient," Murillo said.

Rhode Island Hospital employs 10 full-time interpreters and has technology available to help deaf patients, but interpreters are often stretched thin.

"I focus on exactly what a cardiologist or a lab technician or a social worker needs to know to do their job," Murillo said.

Lifespan picks up the price tag of about $125 per hour, said Robert Delaney, director of project development for CCRI's lifelong learning division.

Demand for the classes is so great, more are already being planned, Delaney said.

"Our next step is to design a more advanced program, for those who want to go on," Delaney said. "We're also going to offer another basic course for people in the emergency department."

Cooper had forgotten most of the Spanish she learned in high school, so she leapt at the chance to learn key nutritional phrases, she said.

The eight-week class refreshed her skills and now she doesn't have to wait for an interpreter to take down basic medical history and give out advice on which foods to avoid for conditions such as diabetes.

"I always introduce myself in Spanish, and tell them I only speak a little," Cooper said. "They know to respond slowly to me, but you can see their smiles and appreciation right away."

Patients' comfort is the main reason Eulanda LaFrance-Young, a patient financial advocate at Rhode Island Hospital, took the Spanish class.

"I ask patients very personal questions, about their citizenship status, how much they make, how much their rent is, questions about their families," LaFrance-Young said. "It makes them much, much more comfortable to give me this information in their own language."

Murillo, the instructor, helped LaFrance-Young construct a screening questionnaire, so she can ask precise questions that require a simple yes or no response from patients.

It's the first foreign-language class LaFrance-Young has taken, and already she knows enough Spanish to find out whether patients are eligible for government programs.

"I want to get to the point where I don't need an interpreter for 90 percent of my screenings," LaFrance-Young said.

Along with teaching hospital personnel specific questions, such as "Does your arm or your hand hurt?" Murillo also teaches his students about Hispanic culture -- tips that help them communicate with Spanish speakers. For example, elderly people should always be addressed by the formal Usted, never by the informal tu, and it is considered more polite to call strangers Seora, for mister or ma'am, rather than use a first name.

Basic Spanish skills help medical professionals do their job, but the program is not designed to make them fluent, Delaney said.

"What we're doing is giving them the skills to be more competent and confident in their jobs," Delaney said.

The medical field is not the only industry looking for workplace Spanish classes. Delaney said CCRI's lifelong learning division has arranged classes in banks, manufacturing companies and for police and fire personnel, and is planning a class for a Providence-based construction company this fall.

For more information about the classes, call Robert Delaney at 825-2399.