Medical Spanish: An Instant Translator

Rating:
Summary: Extremely useful and practical
Review: Great resource to use in the rapid evaluation and treatment of Spanish speaking only patients. It is written in an easy to follow format and prompts me to ask the right questions when evaluating a patient.

Rating:
Summary: A REAL LIFE SAVER!
Review: I am an intern at a busy county hospital with a large number of Spanish speaking patients. Unfortunately, I can't speak Spanish. Waiting for a translator can take hours (if they ever come at all.) Lucky for me someone sent me this book. I was amazed at how user-friendly it was. When you're in the ER, for example, you don't have time to look up individual words in a Spanish/English dictionary. This book translates entire questions, and has phonetic spellings to make sure you are pronouncing the words correctly. Also, each section is broken down by organ system and then chief complaint. For example, let's say a patient presents with chest pain. You would look under chest and then chest pain. Next, it might give you the following questions with the corresponding translations:
Can you point to where it hurts?
How long does the pain last?
Is it worse with exertion?
Is it relieved by rest?
Does the pain radiate to your arm/jaw?
Does the pain make you break out in a sweat?
Is the pain relieved by nitroglycerin?
Etc......
In other words, it sticks to relevant questions and flows pretty much the way you would want it to. It is also very easy to skip around through various sections picking and choosing what you want to ask. I would say that I can get about 85-90% of the relevant history without having to get a translator to clarify. A real life saver!