About SpanishforNurses.com
The need for Nurses to be Certified in Spanish:
In 2016 federal legislation was passed requiring interpreters or “qualified bilingual staff” to provide care for individuals with limited English skills. The following, found on https://www.cmelearning.com/new-2016-aca-rules-significantly-affect-the-law-of-language-access/, describes what “qualified bilingual staff” refers to:
- The final rule distinguishes between “qualified bilingual/multilingual staff” and untrained bilingual/multilingual staff. According to the final rule, only the former may be used as medical interpreters for LEP patients. Qualified bilingual/multilingual staff is defined as “a member of a [provider’s] workforce who is designated to provide oral language assistance as part of the individual’s current, assigned job responsibilities and who has demonstrated” [emphasis supplied] that he or she:
1. is proficient in speaking and understanding both spoken English and at least one other spoken language, including any necessary specialized vocabulary, terminology, and phraseology, and
2. is able to effectively, accurately, and impartially communicate directly with individuals with limited English proficiency in their primary languages
Why SpanishforNurses.com was Created
Due to the need, as seen above, SpanishforNurses.com was created to help hospitals and medical organizations fulfill the law and provide proper care for patients with limited English abilities. SpanishforNurses.com provides training to gain medical Spanish ability as well as a proctored Nurse Spanish certification exam. Hospital administrators can look up certified nurses on the SpanishforNurses.com website and verify their certification. To fulfill federal law, it is recommended that at least one nurse per shift be certified in Spanish. Nurses must re-certify every two years to verify certification and ensure that Spanish abilities have not diminished. To promote a desire for certification, it is recommended that hospitals pay nurses more who have been certified by SpanishforNurses.com.
About the Founder of SpanishforNurses.com
SpanishforNurses.com was created by David S. Clark M.A. David’s language organizations have provided Spanish services to medical organizations, corporations, colleges and universities since 1995. David has a degree in Spanish from Weber State University and a Master’s Degree in Spanish Language Pedagogy from the University of Utah. David has taught the Spanish for Nurses course found on this website at Westminster College (one of the top nurses programs in the western U.S.). David has collaborated with professional medical interpreters in creating the courses and certification including an interpreter who also has a Master’s Degree in Spanish Language Pedagogy. David has also collaborated with nurses to create the course (included his daughter who is a registered nurse).