“Pocket Medical Spanish” in 21st Printing
The idea for producing a practical interpreting aid for English-speaking medical professionals was born more than two decades ago and is in its 21st printing. The book contains common phrases -- in English, Spanish and phonetic transliteration of the Spanish -- that assist medical professionals in diagnosing illnesses in patients who don’t speak English. The medical professional only has to know the Spanish words for yes, no and I don’t know.
Van Nuys, CA (PRWEB) March 29, 2005 -- Booksmythe has announced it is going
into production on the 21st printing of “Pocket Medical Spanish,” 22 years after
author Russell Dollinger first got the idea for creating the handy interpreting
aid for medical professionals.
The book is the best selling of
Dollinger’s series of interpretive aids for medical professionals. “Pocket
Medical Spanish” has been so successful that more than 60,000 copies of the
spiral-bound communication tool have been printed since it was first published
in 1992. Other versions of the tool are available in Russian/English and
French/English.
“The book has absolutely helped break the language
barrier between Spanish-speaking patients and medical professionals, and it has
saved countless lives” said Dollinger, who got the idea for creating the book
after he and his wife visited a friend in the cardiac care unit of a hospital in
1983.
“The woman in the bed next to our friend only spoke Russian, and
the nurses were unable to communicate with her about her basic health care
needs,” Dollinger said. “My wife, who is a court interpreter and translator,
wrote some simple Russian phrases for the nurses such as ‘Turn your head and
cough,’ and an idea was born.”
The 134-page “Pocket Medical Spanish” is
priced at $11.95 and is about the size of a PDA or personal music player,
measuring just 5.3 by 3.5 inches. It’s designed to be used like a flip chart,
with some 400 medical questions and statements organized in tabbed chapters.
The book is divided into 12 sections, with several common medical
problems like chest pain, nervous system disorders and OB/GYN complaints as
chapter headings. The book is practical and easy to use.
On one side of
each page is a medical question in English, Spanish and phonetic
transliteration. The question is also written in Spanish on the other side for
the patient to follow along.
“Following the phonetics, the provider can
pronounce understandable Spanish,” Dollinger said. “And if the provider cannot
pronounce it, the patient can still understand by reading along. Both the
patient’s eyes and the ears are covered.”
Medical professionals use the
book to ask questions in Spanish like “Do you have chest pain?” or give commands
such as “Touch the part of your body that bothers you.” The only Spanish they
need to know to communicate with the patient are the words for yes, no and I
don’t know.
Besides its attractiveness to those who work in all aspects
of medical care, Dollinger said the book is also popular with Spanish-speaking
patients with limited knowledge of English who want to communicate better with
their doctors. He said it’s also used by immigrants who want to improve their
English, Americans traveling to Spanish-speaking countries and physicians from
other countries studying for their U.S. licensing exams.
“Pocket Medical
Spanish” has been used by physicians with Doctors Without Borders and other
medical aid missions as well as thousands of doctors, nurses, chiropractors,
EMTs, paramedics, and other medical professionals. NASA officials working with
Russian cosmonauts have also used the Russian version of this practical,
interpretive guide.
“The book makes a nice gift for someone graduating
from medical or nursing school,” Dollinger says, “or to honor nurses during
National Nurses Week, May 6-12.” Dollinger noted that Women’s Health Week is
celebrated May 8-14, Men’s Health Week from June 13-19 and National Public
Health Week from April 4-10.
Dollinger has a Ph.D. in anatomy from UCLA,
a bachelor’s degree in biology from UC-Davis, and he has pursued a number of
creative endeavors in publishing and other areas.
More information about
the book is at: http://www.booksmythe.com/pms.html.
Contact:
Russell
K. Dollinger, Ph.D.
818-349-1896
800-788-0064
FAX: 818-349-2276
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb222314.htm