{"id":2576,"date":"2022-06-17T12:21:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T19:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2022-06-17T12:21:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T19:21:20","slug":"the-hazards-of-medical-spanglish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576","title":{"rendered":"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

“Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.”<\/strong><\/h1>\n

-Charlie Kaufman, playwright\/screenwriter<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Spanish-speaking patient calls her primary care health center, and talks with a triage nurse who speaks Spanish. She says her 5 year old son was seen in an emergency room in Southern California and told that her son has Monkeypox. She was given an appointment, the patient was roomed and the medical assistant recorded the chief complaint of Monkeypox.<\/p>\n

It turns out, that the patient had infectious mononucleosis (this was what was diagnosed at the emergency room). How did this get misinterpreted?<\/p>\n

The answer: Medical Spanglish!<\/p>\n

The medical translation of Monkeypox is viruela del simio<\/em>, but a more colloquial translation is viruela del mono<\/em>. Viruela<\/em> is the Spanish translation for Smallpox, so viruela del simio<\/em> means Smallpox of the simians<\/em>, and viruela del mono<\/em> means \u201cSmallpox of the monkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, the medical translation of infectious mononucleosis (or acute Epstein-Barr virus infection) is mononucleosis infecciosa<\/em> or infeccion por el virus de Epstein-Barr<\/em>. If the emergency physician had used one of these terms, there would not have been the confusion that ensued.<\/p>\n

However, the emergency room physician spoke a little\u00a0Spanish, and so mixed that Spanish with an English language shortened term for infectious mononucleosis: mono.<\/p>\n

\u201cSu hijo tiene el virus de mono”\u00a0 which means to the parent: \u201cYour child has the monkey virus,\u201d which is pretty close to Monkeypox.<\/p>\n

Early monkeypox presents with fever, fatigue, headache, and muscle aches, which is also the prodrome for COVID, infectious mononucleosis, influenza, and a hundred other illnesses so the lack of the characteristic rash is not sufficient to make a definitive diagnosis in the early stages.<\/p>\n

Decades ago, Chevrolet had great difficulty selling a particular car model in Mexico and South America: the Nova. Nova in English is reminiscent of the French word for new, \u201cnova\u201d as in Nova Scotia. However in Spanish, \u201cNo va\u201d means \u201cno go\u201d as in “the car that will not function.”<\/p>\n

Providers with a little Spanish language capacity often have such miscommunications when they attempt to talk to their patients without a translator. They mix in English words, speaking Medical Spanglish.<\/p>\n

Just as clinicians need to be precise and careful in their diagnostic process, this diagnostic information must be communicated to the patient in a way that they can fully understand, or the diagnostic process has failed. Communicating clearly with non-English\u00a0speakers is a critical part of our professional responsibility\u00a0as health care professionals.<\/p>\n

For information on PHC provided video and telephonic interpreter services, see our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer “Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.” -Charlie Kaufman, playwright\/screenwriter A Spanish-speaking patient calls her primary care health center, and talks with a triage nurse who speaks Spanish. She says her 5 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hazards of Medical Spanglish - PHC Primary Care Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish - PHC Primary Care Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer “Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.” -Charlie Kaufman, playwright\/screenwriter A Spanish-speaking patient calls her primary care health center, and talks with a triage nurse who speaks Spanish. She says her 5 … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PHC Primary Care Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-17T19:21:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RMoore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RMoore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576\",\"name\":\"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish - PHC Primary Care Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-17T19:21:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e2261897cb15c2610b283200b210f79c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/\",\"name\":\"PHC Primary Care Blog\",\"description\":\"Partnership HealthPlan of California\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e2261897cb15c2610b283200b210f79c\",\"name\":\"RMoore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0ba7e9946a1ad594a0070ed009f75ea00cb69b3f7271511fd722377966e54bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0ba7e9946a1ad594a0070ed009f75ea00cb69b3f7271511fd722377966e54bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"RMoore\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish - PHC Primary Care Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish - PHC Primary Care Blog","og_description":"By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer “Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.” -Charlie Kaufman, playwright\/screenwriter A Spanish-speaking patient calls her primary care health center, and talks with a triage nurse who speaks Spanish. She says her 5 … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576","og_site_name":"PHC Primary Care Blog","article_published_time":"2022-06-17T19:21:20+00:00","author":"RMoore","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RMoore","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576","url":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576","name":"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish - PHC Primary Care Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-06-17T19:21:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e2261897cb15c2610b283200b210f79c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?p=2576#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Hazards of Medical Spanglish"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/","name":"PHC Primary Care Blog","description":"Partnership HealthPlan of California","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e2261897cb15c2610b283200b210f79c","name":"RMoore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0ba7e9946a1ad594a0070ed009f75ea00cb69b3f7271511fd722377966e54bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0ba7e9946a1ad594a0070ed009f75ea00cb69b3f7271511fd722377966e54bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"RMoore"},"url":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/?author=2"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p293xY-Fy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2576"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578,"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576\/revisions\/2578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phcprimarycare.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}