HablaMed Dispatch- Physical Exam Commands

Reader,

¡Buenos días! Hope your week's off to a good start.

Most of us learn medical Spanish one phrase at a time, which makes sense until you're actually at the bedside.

Picture the exam you've done a thousand times. Stethoscope on the back, you cue the breath. You move up to the throat, you need the mouth open, then the tongue out. Three commands in about fifteen seconds, and they always come in that order.

That's why learning them one at a time doesn't quite stick. It isn't a vocabulary problem. It's that you're pulling three separate files when you only need one!

So try it as a sequence. Say all three out loud in a row until they run together as a single thing. That's the version that holds up when your hands are busy and your brain is somewhere else.

PHRASES OF THE WEEK

Respire profundo.

rehs-PEE-reh pro-FOON-doh

Take a deep breath.

Abra la boca.

AH-brah lah BOH-kah

Open your mouth.

Saque la lengua.

SAH-keh lah LEN-gwah

Stick out your tongue

Apriéteme los dedos.

ah-PRYEH-teh-meh lohs DEH-dohs

Squeeze my fingers.

¿Le duele cuando le aprieto aquí?

leh DWEH-leh KWAHN-doh leh ah-PRYEH-toh ah-KEE

Does it hurt when I press here?

Two small notes. Apriéteme los dedos is what you say holding out two fingers. If you're offering a full hand, apriéteme la mano sits more naturally. And on palpation, the long question is worth knowing, though plenty of folks shorten it to just ¿Le duele aquí? while pressing. Both are correct!

One reminder, always: these phrases are here to build your comfort and keep a patient oriented in the moments between. They are never a substitute for a qualified in-person medical interpreter. Follow your hospital's interpreter protocol every time. The goal isn't to work around the interpreter. It's to be a little more human while you wait for one.

What's Next for HablaMed

Want the full thing? Grab the free Shift-Ready Medical Spanish Guide below! If you give me feedback on the form on the last page- get a greater than 50% discount on the full product when we launch later this month!

Shift-Ready_Medical_Spanish_Guide.pdf

¡Hasta luego!

— Tyler, HablaMed

Tyler@Habla-med.com

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

"Respire" is only half the instruction

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...

3 days ago • 1 min read

Healthcare professional adjusting a blue surgical mask.

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