Lesson 5: Describing Pain

6/22/2019

Happy MedSpanish Sunday. Today marks 5 weeks that I’ve been actively posting Spanish lessons on my blog. Before these blogs, I would write a post every month (or realistically, every 2 months!) Needless to say, I’m quite proud of my consistency. These lessons have given me something to look forward to & thus far have been really fun to create. I hope you find them helpful and have tried some terms out while in practice!

Had 3 long shifts this week & quite a lot of laceration repairs. From a skateboarder falling & splitting her forehead open (wear a helmet everyone!) to the parent who sliced his hand trying to make avocado toast. You’ll find laceration stories are always interesting. A patient came in with a makeshift tourniquet around the hand stating, “me corte la mano con un cuchillo."

Case Spanish terms:

CC: "Me corte la mano con un cuchillo"
Translation: I cut my hand with a knife
Hand—la mano
Cut—Corte (from the verb "cortar" meaning to cut)
Knife—cuchillo

Describing Pain

Pain! Perhaps one of the most important words to become familiar with. After this lesson you'll be able to ask your patients some questions regarding their pain, its location, & what it feels like

Key terms:
Pain—dolor (pronunciation: doh-lor)
Painful—doloroso
Painless—sin dolor

Phrases

To ask a patient about pain in a specific area, you will use the phrase:
- Do you have pain of (insert body part)—Tiene dolor de (insert body part)
Where do you feel the pain?—donde siente el dolor?
Point to where it hurts—Señale donde le duele
How long does the pain last?—Cuanto dura el dolor?
Do you take medication for the pain?—Toma medicamento para el dolor?
What does the pain feel like?—Como es el dolor?