LibGuides: SPAN 311, 312, 315, 316: Spanish for Medical Personnel: Spanish Language Materials for Consumers

Class Activity

Finding Quality Patient Education Handouts

Reasons to Educate Patients

Reasons to educate patients:

Education develops credibility.
Education develops trust.
Education increases understanding.
Education improves compliancy.

Spanish Language Materials for Consumers

These resources provide information about conditions, diseases, diagnostic tests, and treatments, in English and Spanish. All resources have made an effort to create materials which can be read and understood by someone without advanced education in the health sciences; however, we recommend reviewing any material and making your own decision about its relevance and understandability before providing it to a patient.

Subscription Databases

ClinicalKey This link opens in a new window
The patient education section provides ~3,000 handouts in Spanish (over 10,000 in English) covering common medical procedures, medications, and lab tests. The Specialties area pulls together handouts relating to a specific body system or specialty.
LexiComp Online This link opens in a new window
Click on "patient education" to find 1000+ handouts for patients in English and Spanish covering common conditions, medical procedures, and RX and OTC medications. As this is a drug information resource, the medication section is very robust.
Merck Manual Professional Version This link opens in a new window
Explains disorders, their symptoms, how they're diagnosed, and how they can be prevented or treated. For doctors and medical students.
UpToDate This link opens in a new window
UpToDate offers different levels of patient education materials to meet the varying information needs of your patients. Click on "Patient Info" to find two types of consumer information: "The Basics" and "Beyond the Basics." These are available in both English and Spanish. Restricted access to College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and School of Osteopathic Medicine only

Freely Accessible Databases

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Many pages on the CDC site can be viewed in Spanish. The CDC website contains resources about diseases, conditions and other special topics, with health immunizations and recommendations for travelers worldwide.

MEDLINEplus This link opens in a new window
This US-government-produced website provides free medical information and is written for a non-professional audience. Handouts and information pages covering common diseases, treatments, anatomy, and related topics are available in English and Spanish. The drugs section includes OTC, RX, and herbal medications.