Special Services: AZ Monteverde

Medical Spanish Program

AZ Monteverde has developed one of the most innovative and intensive Medical Spanish programs in Central America. At our campus students participating in the Medical program will receive specific training in class with medical terminology, patient interviews and anatomy as well as out of class volunteer opportunities and the chance to observe the Costa Rican medical system.

During the morning students will be placed in the Standard Group 4 hour Spanish program at their individual level of ability. Four additional hours a week of class time will be dedicated to teaching students specific medical vocabulary as well as practice with real life medical situation such as patient interviews and family consultations. With medical specific text and materials along with exercises and classroom activities students will gain an understanding of how to deal with patients in everyday situations.

The classroom experience is also backed up by afternoon visits with local doctors, nurses and other Costa Rican medical professionals. Students will be placed, as best as possible, with Costa Ricans of the same specialty and profession. Visits to local hospitals and clinics help students see and experience how medicine is practiced in Latin America and specifically Costa Rica.

We believe this combined approach of in class exercises and training along with out of classes exposure to real medical situations and volunteer opportunities is the best learning approach. All of this is in addition to the regular lessons in Spanish each day and the immersion of living with a family in a Spanish speaking country.

Over the years many doctors, nurses, medical students, paramedics and emergency technicians have attended this program with a great degree of success. Numerous medical schools through out the US accept this program for credit and recommend it to their students. Additional information about this program is attached below.

Nursing Spanish Program

AZ Monteverde is happy to announce the expansion of our highly successful Medical Spanish immersion program with the addition of a medical Spanish program devoted solely to nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students, or anyone else interested in learning medical Spanish from the nursing perspective. This program has been designed to address the special concerns and areas of interest of the nursing community.

This program will give nurses the ability to converse with Spanish speaking patients in a clinic environment. The program's goals are to develop or improve a nurse's Spanish language abilities in the workplace. Our students will learn standard Spanish in 4 hour morning classes that have been divided into one of nine levels based on their individual Spanish proficiency. The 2 hour afternoon classes and medical visitations have been designed to accommodate all levels of Spanish ability, and focus on medical Spanish terminology and Spanish speaking communication skills.

The class time is supplemented with the addition of medical site visitations, to local Costa Rican clinics. During these visitations, under the supervision of our in house nurse/preceptor, students will accompany nurses in local clinics. Evening talks are also scheduled once a week with our nursing preceptor and other local nurses where specific areas of interest to individual students can be discussed.

Our nursing Spanish classes are structured in weekly blocks of interrelated subjects which act as a one week stand alone entity. That way, students joining the program on any given week will not feel they are entering in mid stream. The complete program lasts four weeks, but students are welcome to enroll in fewer weekly sessions as determined by their individual budget and schedule, without any loss in the continuity of their program.

The program includes classes, lodging, breakfast & dinners, all study materials, and various adventure and cultural tours so that students get a break in their studies to experience this ecological wonderland.

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