Certificate in Spanish for Health Care Professionals

This course presents students with disparities in health care among minority and Hispanic communities. In the course students will study how disproportionate care affects Hispanics, why there exists such a gap in care, and what might be done to level the playing field in care received from health care professionals. Hispanic beliefs towards care, cultural approximations to seeking care, and varying customs about what works in medicine will be examined. Also, a study of which issues in health care are dominant in the Hispanic community will be studied.

The population of the United States is comprised of an increasingly diverse group of cultures. We cannot identify one distinctive American culture. Instead we have a constantly changing, inclusive multicultural society that encompasses a diverse population related to all people and nations on the planet. This course is designed to present students with an understanding of the identity dynamics of the major Hispanic groups in U.S. history. Special attention is given to key geographical areas, immigration and demographics, process of acculturation and assimilation to mainstream society, the diversity within Latino ethnic and national communities in the U.S., Hispanic literary history and consciousness, bi-culturalism, the ramifications of the intersection of the different Hispanic cultures and the realities of the past and current presence of Hispanics in the U.S. as the first colonizers and special immigrants.
Prerequisites: (SPAN 301, 301, 3010 or 3010).