HablaMed Dispatch- Positioning for Imaging

Reader,

¡Hola amigos!

Got a few requests for radiology-side phrases lately, so we're opening the month there.

Imaging language runs on a three-beat pattern: position, hold, release. Most people learn the middle beat and skip the third one entirely.

That third beat matters more than it sounds. Tell someone to hold their breath without telling them they can stop, and a lot of patients just keep holding. Through the repositioning, through the next exposure, sometimes until they're lightheaded. They're being cooperative. They're waiting for permission you never gave.

The other thing worth fixing is how we handle metal. Most of us say something that translates to "take off your jewelry," and the patient hears exactly that — jewelry. Not the belt buckle, not the bobby pins, not the underwire. Quítese todo lo que sea de metal (take off anything metal) closes that gap in one sentence, and it saves you the retake.

Once they're on the table, levante los brazos (raise your arms) handles most standard positioning.

As always — a qualified medical interpreter is irreplaceable. This is a tool to support communication, not replace it.

PHRASES OF THE WEEK

Respire profundo y aguante.

Reh-SPEE-reh proh-FOON-doh ee ah-GWAHN-teh

Take a deep breath and hold it.

Ya puede respirar.

Yah PWEH-deh reh-spee-RAR

You can breathe now.

No se mueva.

No seh MWEH-vah Don't move.

Hit reply and tell me what other imaging phrases you'd want covered — I'm building out this side based on what comes back.

¡Hasta luego! — Tyler, HablaMed

What's Next for HablaMed

Last call before we get back to just phrases and stories — the Shift-Ready Guide is here, with your 30% Dispatch discount, if you want it - first 30 buyers get 30% off — Get yours today-$18.90 ~~$27~~

¡Hasta luego!

— Tyler, HablaMed

Tyler@Habla-med.com

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
Unsubscribe · Preferences

The phrases you'll say forty times a shift

HablaMed Dispatch- Quick Update Phrases Reader, ¡Hola amigos! First one of the month, and honestly, it's because it's one of my favorites. None of this week's phrases are clinical, which is exactly why they're worth having early! Count how many times a shift you say some version of "hang on," "let me check," or "I'll be right back." It's constant. And in a Spanish-speaking room, without them, you end up doing the small apologetic wave on the way out the door. The patient watches you go and...

10 days ago • 1 min read

Victoria hospital emergency entrance sign with building

Greet the room, not just the patient

HablaMed Dispatch- Addressing the family Reader, ¡Hola amigos! This one's less about vocabulary and more about the doorway. You walk into a room with four family members in it, and what happens in the next four seconds sets the tone for everything after. In English, you'd greet the room without thinking about it. In Spanish, concentrating on the clinical phrases you rehearsed on the way down the hall, it's easy to go straight to the patient. In a lot of Latino families, greeting the room is...

17 days ago • 1 min read

Digital blood pressure monitor checking a person's arm.

The two words that keep a number from scaring somebody

HablaMed Dispatch- Explaining Basic Results and Vitals Reader, ¡Hola amigos! This week's is a short one with a good payoff. Every phrase this week has the same job. Telling somebody what's happening with their body without making it sound worse than it is. The vocabulary is the easy half. Presión, azúcar, oxígeno (blood pressure, sugar, oxygen). Patients already know these. What actually decides how the news lands is two syllables that aren't clinical at all. Un poco. A little. You're at the...

24 days ago • 2 min read