Dey Kally, Romero Arocha Sinibaldo, Park Yoon Soo, Ortega Pilar
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Midwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
J Osteopath Med. 2024 Feb 29;124(6):249-255. doi: 10.1515/jom-2023-0110. eCollection 2024 Jun 1.
Spanish is the language in the United States with the greatest language-concordant physician deficit. Allopathic medical Spanish programs have proliferated, but the national prevalence of medical Spanish education at osteopathic medical schools has never been evaluated.
The objectives of this study are to describe the medical Spanish educational landscape at US osteopathic schools and evaluate program adherence to previously established basic standards.
Between March and October 2022, surveys were sent to all 44 member schools of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). For nonrespondents, data were obtained from publicly available websites. Primary surveys were sent to deans or diversity, equity, and inclusion officers at each osteopathic school to determine whether medical Spanish was offered and to identify a medical Spanish leader. Medical Spanish leaders received the secondary survey. The main measures of this study were the prevalence of medical Spanish programs at osteopathic schools and the extent to which existing programs met each of the four basic standards: having a faculty educator, providing a curricular structure, assessing learner skills, and awarding institutional course credit.
We gathered medical Spanish information from 90.9 % (40/44) of osteopathic schools. Overall, 88.6 % (39/44) offered medical Spanish, of which 66.7 % (26/39) had formal curricula, 43.6 % (17/39) had faculty educators, 17.9 % (7/39) assessed learner skills, and 28.2 % (11/39) provided course credit. Only 12.8 % (5/39) of osteopathic schools with medical Spanish programs met all basic standards. Urban/suburban schools were likelier to offer medical Spanish than rural schools (p=0.020). Osteopathic schools in states with the highest Spanish-speaking populations were more likely to offer student-run initiatives (p=0.027).
Most osteopathic schools provide medical Spanish education, but work is needed to improve consistency, quality, and sustainability. Future research should focus on osteopathic student language proficiency assessment, improve medical Spanish accessibility for students at rural programs, and explore the unique content areas of osteopathic medical Spanish education.
西班牙语是美国语言与医生配备最不匹配的语言。全科医学西班牙语课程不断增加，但从未评估过整骨医学院校医学西班牙语教育的全国普及情况。
本研究的目的是描述美国整骨医学院校的医学西班牙语教育情况，并评估课程是否符合先前制定的基本标准。
在2022年3月至10月期间，向美国整骨医学院协会（AACOM）的所有44所成员学校发送了调查问卷。对于未回复的学校，数据从公开网站获取。主要调查问卷发送给每所整骨医学院的院长或负责多元化、公平和包容的官员，以确定是否提供医学西班牙语课程，并确定医学西班牙语负责人。医学西班牙语负责人收到次要调查问卷。本研究的主要衡量指标是整骨医学院校医学西班牙语课程的普及情况，以及现有课程符合四项基本标准的程度：有教师教育者、提供课程结构、评估学习者技能以及授予机构课程学分。
我们从90.9%（40/44）的整骨医学院校收集了医学西班牙语信息。总体而言，88.6%（39/44）的学校提供医学西班牙语课程，其中66.7%（26/39）有正式课程，43.6%（17/39）有教师教育者，17.9%（7/39）评估学习者技能，28.2%（11/39）提供课程学分。只有12.8%（5/39）提供医学西班牙语课程的整骨医学院校符合所有基本标准。城市/郊区学校比农村学校更有可能提供医学西班牙语课程（p=0.020）。西班牙语人口最多的州的整骨医学院更有可能提供学生主导的项目（p=0.027）。
大多数整骨医学院校提供医学西班牙语教育，但需要努力提高一致性、质量和可持续性。未来的研究应侧重于整骨医学生语言能力评估，提高农村项目学生获得医学西班牙语教育的机会，并探索整骨医学西班牙语教育的独特内容领域。
