spanish-language reference

The book was disapointing. Material is not organized by the level of difficulty. Very simple sentences and phrases are placed next to gramaticly advanced ones.
"Grammar notes" provide a few very basic grammar rules and are inadequate for the level of gramatical dificulty of many sentences.
The majority of the patient interview questions and recomended phrases are either irrelevant or simply inappropriate.
Buy this book if you want to learn the names of the body parts in Spanish, but do not expect much else of it.

There are at least three books on the market for health care workers who wish to learn enough spanish to help their Latino patients. I have all three and think that this is the best one. The others have many dialogues and phrases that are simply unrealistic and would never need to be known by a nurse or a doctor. You end up wasting your time learning phrases that you will never use. This book (be sure to get the cassettes also as they have all of the essential phrases so you can practice your pronunciation) has words and phrases which mirror reality. This is information you can really use. It is amazing how much you can pick up with just a few hours of study. Well worth the price!

The book, casette, and pocket guide, as a set provide above basic Spanish language available to study and use at work. I have had 2 years of spanish at the college level, this book is advanced enough to be helpful. The pocket guide is portable, and you can quickly look up the area of the body the person is having trouble with. Unfortunately, it cannot keep stressed out parents and children from speaking so rapidly or excitedly to always catch what they are communicating back. If you know some spanish, this set helps as a crutch to get through an initial assessment.