Pocket Medical Spanish Reaches 75,000 Copies in Print.

Paramedics in the field, doctors, nurses, and others must be able to communicate quickly, easily, and accurately with their patients—it’s literally a matter of life and death.
Booksmythe publishes primarily medical language books that allow medical professionals to communicate with patients quickly, easily, and inexpensively. Dollinger’s Pocket Medical Series of books are presently available in Spanish, French, and Russian. Booksmythe also sells tapes that accompany these titles.

One of the most popular medical Spanish language tools on the market, with 75,000 copies in print now, is “Pocket Medical Spanish” by Russell K. Dollinger, Ph.D. The book is made of about 400 carefully ordered phrases grouped into 12 sections with dividers, tabs, and cross-references. The phrases are arranged in a flashcard-style format with an English phrase, Spanish phrase, and transliteration for easy pronunciation on one side of the card, with the Spanish phrase printed, in large letters, on the flip-side of the card so that the patient can read along. All the phrases are in a “yes,” “no,” “I don’t know” format or are commands; therefore, the doctor or nurse need only understand one of those three answers. The patient can “see” and “hear” each phrase. It is inherently multimodal, and therefore, more accurate.

Companies like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Kaiser Permanente, JPS Hospital, County USC, LA and Phoenix Fire Departments, Ingram, Rittenhouse, Matthews, Baker & Taylor and many others have been customers of Booksmythe.

“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 135-page “Pocket Medical Spanish” is priced at $13.95 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, “EMT’s who need a practical gift,” or “any medical missionary who wants to have more of an impact on the community they serve.”

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.

Two quotes from Amazon.com regarding Pocket Medical Spanish are shown below:

Fantastic! Need more like this for all Public Safety Pros!
Louis Alvarez (Roanoke, VA) January 15, 2004
I have been buying this book for myself since it’s first publishing, then end up giving it to someone who needs this more than I do (I speak Spanish). This is a well planned and laid out book for all medical professionals who come in contact with Spanish speaking people whether all day long or infrequently. Rarely is there a translation tool that gets to the point quickly without leaving the medical professional in the dark. In 1999, I went with a relief team to Nicaragua in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. We managed to treat more than 140 patients in three days with the help of this little book! It is easy to understand and to use. You can use the pronunciation or just point to the sentence and you get a straightforward answer. It’s that simple! I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a medical question that needs to be answered quickly regardless of the profession. We need more books like these for all professions in the public and private sector. Buy it!

A great book,
George (East Bay, California) July 12, 2000
This is a great book for any medical professional who feels the frustration of trying to help a Spanish-only speaking patient and feels “tied,” and helpless. You don’t need to study this book to learn Spanish but rather start using it for history and physical and by time the language will be automatically embedded in your head. I love this book.

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