<p>Having even basic spanish language skills can be extremely useful. EXTREMELY. There’s no need to be fluent. I can’t overemphasize the point. </p>
<p>By law, hospitals have to provide translator services, but often the translators are over worked, and if you can get through the basics, you can save yourself, your patients, and your colleagues a lot of time. Of course, knowing your limits is important and for things like giving diagnoses, getting informed consent and more complex things, having a translator is a definite must. </p>
<p>Every hospital/residency program is going to have spanish language patients, but whether residency programs are going to give preference to individuals who are spanish speaking is really dependent on what % of patients are spanish speaking. The more patients, the more it will matter.</p>