On August 1, LanguageMate® deployed Canopy® Medical Spanish at Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences (PSMHS) in Ponce, Puerto Rico as part of a four-week clinical rotation offered to visiting English-speaking medical students. The rotation, called “The Practice of Medicine with Hispanic Patients,” is a clerkship, which incorporates an innovative e-learning program with diverse clinical experience in a Hispanic community. Research and development of Canopy® was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. The platform is designed to enable current and future medical professionals to communicate more effectively with Spanish-speaking patients.

In medicine, clear and effective communication between patients and their providers is vital. PSMHS has been a leader in the cultivation of well-rounded, culturally sensitive bilingual physicians, responding to the national need for bilingual medical professionals serving a growing Hispanic population. To address this need, PSMHS has designed this intensive clerkship with Canopy® targeted primarily to visiting English-speaking medical students from national and international medical schools. Dean for Health Science and Academic Affairs, Dr. Olga Rodriguez de Arzola, who pioneered this effort at PSMHS said, “The importance of bilingual medical providers will only grow as more and more healthcare facilities focus on quality of care for patients in the growing U.S. population of Spanish- speaking patients. Therefore I am very pleased that PSMHS is offering this new elective with Canopy technology to any English-speaking medical student who wishes to take it.”

The course offers the full range of educational activities of a clerkship, including classroom, online learning, and practical clinic and hospital experience, and it is designed to accommodate the typical schedules of medical students. The e-learning component, Canopy®, is offered on-demand in bite-size lesson chunks and provides busy students with in-depth personalized feedback on their progress. LanguageMate® Director of Product Management, Brian Yarnell, highlights the core of the Canopy® platform, stating, “Unlike traditional language learning software, Canopy® has a laser-sharp focus on equipping medical professionals with the knowledge to communicate with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients in a competent and culturally relevant manner. We’re very excited to work with forward-thinking institutions like PSMHS to help equip medical professionals with the necessary skills to succeed in an increasingly multicultural world.”

About Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences
The Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences (PSMHS) is a Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)-accredited medical school located in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the largest city in the southern area of Puerto Rico, with a year-long warm climate. Its citizens speak Spanish as their first language, but many are bilingual in Spanish and English. The city of Ponce has four universities and is known for its neoclassical architecture, the Ponce Museum of Art, the beautiful coastline on the Caribbean Sea, and gorgeous nearby beaches.

PSMHS’s mission is to provide high-quality education, research, and health services in medicine, biological sciences, clinical psychology, public health, and other healthcare fields through an innovative health sciences curriculum while preparing students to be ethical practitioners and scientists—in medicine, biological sciences, clinical psychology, public health, and other healthcare fields. PSMHS’s goals include expanding and improving high-quality medical, mental health, diagnostic, and therapeutic services and continuing to prepare ethical professionals and scientists that contribute to society and to Puerto Rico in particular.

To find out more about enrolling in this clinical clerkship for English speaking medical students, please visit our website at www.psm.edu/spanishelective. For immediate assistance please contact Ms. Martha Rodríguez, Clinical Coordinator via email at mrodriguez@psm.edu or by calling 787-840-2575 extension 2271.

About LanguageMate®
LanguageMate® is a leading developer of communication solutions in the healthcare field. The company’s mission is to create tools that enable health care institutions to enhance quality of care and improve patient satisfaction. LanguageMate® has received more than a dozen Small Business Innovation Research grants from the NIH since 2004 to transform the delivery of health education and health services.

For more information about Canopy®, please visit www.languagemate.com/products/canopy/ or call 212-274-1654 x33.