Nursing Medical Spanish Program, Arenal (Fortuna), Costa Rica

In Costa Rica ISLS has our one of a kind Nursing Spanish Program devoted solely to nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students, or anyone else interested in learning medical Spanish from the nursing perspective. This is accredited by the state of California for Continuing Education credits. This credit is also accepted by the nursing boards of all other states as well. This means that nurses can fulfill their contact ours needed for their profession through this program.

The Nursing Program is located at two of our Costa Rica campus, Arenal (La Fortuna) and Turrialba. Both locations are different and unique and many students who study long term with us choose to visit both during their stay. Arenal is considered to be the epicenter of adventure travel in Central America and for good reason. Turrialba is a mid sized Costa Rican city and not a tourist destination at all.

In Arenal it is a private lessons only program. This means that students will be one-on-one with their Spanish teachers and with the clinical hours component. You can choose between doing 16 or 20 hours of regular private Spanish lessons and combining that will 6 additional hours of Nursing/clinical lessons and shadowing. The private Spanish lessons are in your host family with the teacher coming to you. The nursing/clinical hours take place in a private medical clinic with our Program Preceptor, Dr. Sergio Arias.

The Turrialba Nursing Spanish Program takes place at our hillside campus overlooking the town and valley. Here students can choose between the Standard 16 hour or Intensive 20 hour programs, which are done in small group classes of no more than six students. The additional Nursing Spanish Program is done in the afternoon and consists of five hours of medical activities, lessons and patient interviews in our on campus mock clinic.

The program’s goal is to develop or improve a nurse’s Spanish language abilities in the workplace, so it is important for our students to learn regular Spanish grammar and conversation. This is why we have 4 hours/day of lessons, which are split into nine levels based on their individual Spanish proficiency. The afternoon classes and medical lessons have been designed to accommodate all levels of Spanish ability, and focus on medical Spanish terminology and Spanish speaking communication skills. The class time is supplemented with the addition of different medical activities.

Our nursing Spanish classes are structured in weekly blocks of interrelated subjects which act as a one week stand alone entity. This way, students joining the program on any given week will not feel they are entering in mid stream. The complete program lasts four weeks, but students are welcome to enroll in fewer weekly sessions as determined by their individual budget and schedule, without any loss in the continuity of their program.