The need for bilingual healthcare professionals has arguably been made more apparent through the recent COVID-19 crisis. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities have experienced an influx of patients with Limited English Proficient (LEP). It is common medical knowledge that these patients represent one of the most vulnerable populations. They receive lower-quality care, experience higher rates of medical errors, and generally are subjected to poorer clinical outcomes than those who speak English fluently. 

Awarding more than 31,000 medical degrees throughout its rich educational history, Thomas Jefferson University’s (TJU) Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) acknowledges these startling statistics and has built a curriculum that aims to combat them. According to the university, its mission is focused on “educating physicians who will form and lead the integrated healthcare delivery and research teams of tomorrow.” Students are educated in a manner that supports improved clinical care through investigation from the laboratory to the bedside, and into the community; setting the standard for quality, compassionate and efficient patient care for our community and for the nation. The school is recognized for its balanced approach to medical education, which includes both traditional classroom learning, as well as hands-on clinical practice. This balanced approach is now augmented by flexible options for classroom learning and clinical practice, utilizing an online Medical Spanish training platform to facilitate both styles of education. 

Since 2015, TJU-SKMC has been a client of Canopy, utilizing its platform as a flexible learning tool for enhanced education. The Canopy Learn: Medical Spanish courses are offered through the school as an elective Humanities-based course, which medical students have the option to enroll in to earn academic credit. 

TJU-SKMC uses the platform as a hybrid course, combining both online learning and offline simulations for first- and fourth-year students. Roughly 20-26 students take the course each year, equating to over 100 students who have taken the course since TJU-SKMC has begun offering Canopy’s Medical Spanish platform as an elective course. Students in their first year are enrolled for 12 months and have the option to re-enroll during their fourth year, traveling to a Spanish-speaking country to take a clinical elective in their specialty of choice to hone their skills. 

During the summer after their first year, selected students have the opportunity to participate in a four-week medical immersion program at CES University in Medellín, Colombia. Students shadow a variety of specialties in both the inpatient and outpatient settings and have the chance to witness medical care in Spanish. During their second and third years, students continue their shadowing experiences at Puentes de Salud and the Latina Women’s Health clinic.

The school further employs Canopy’s flexible course offering by using it as a mechanism by which students facilitate the learning of other students. A handful of second-year students, who have already completed and excelled in the course during their first year, are situated as administrators of the Canopy Learn: Medical Spanish platform, keeping track of the progress of enrolled first-year students, and serving as teaching assistants, guiding students through the course. 

The hybrid program, built with Canopy’s Medical Spanish offering, provides an opportunity for TJU-SKMC’s students to better serve Hispanic patients. Over the course of their third and fourth years, students in the program learn the practice of medicine such that they can be better equipped to provide actual medical care and display cultural awareness and communication for LEP patients.

“Our (SKMC) Medical Spanish program is aimed at developing physicians who can directly care for Spanish-speaking patients and reduce health care disparities commonly found in this population,” SKMC Medical Spanish professor Dr. Bernard Lopez commented. “Thus, we see this as inclusive education and compassionate care.”

For the student administrators, the student-guided instruction the course offers, utilizing the Canopy platform, is highly valuable. 

“The peer-guided nature of the educational platform is helpful for the students, who can benefit from hearing from students who were in the same position as them only a year prior,” SKMC second-year medical student and student administrator Cathy Lu said. “I feel that it helps build a community and solidarity among students at different points in their medical education.”

Canopy Learn is the #1 selling Medical Spanish Online Course in the U.S., awarded by the National Institute of Health, providing a flexible learning option for busy medical students while equipping them with the linguistic knowledge and skills necessary to serve the Spanish-speaking patient populations that they will inevitably encounter in their professional medical careers. 

Canopy Learn: Medical Spanish is tailored for medical use and developed for the busy schedules of healthcare professionals. Medical topics have been spread across all three levels, covering major medical treatment of both physical and mental health issues, as well as general knowledge of various medical specialties. 

The wide spectrum of medical topics is the perfect learning resource not only for medical students and nursing students, but also healthcare professionals in different specialties, including Medical Doctors (MD), Doctors of Osteopathy (DO), Physician Assistants (PA), Registered Nurses (RN), and Pharmacists.

Students and instructors alike benefit from the course’s wide range of topics, flexibility, and easy-to-use nature, particularly when used as a supplemental learning tool in conjunction with an in-class component. 

“We LOVE Canopy and use it as the central part of our Medical Spanish program. It is a great tool and should be a part of any program,” Dr. Lopez said.