A growing Hispanic population has created a need for more bilingual medical personnel, according to the National Society for Hispanic Professionals.
However, Ball State University does not require nursing majors to take Spanish because of space and faculty members, Larry Ottinger, assistant professor of academic advising, said.
The 2000 census reported that the population of Spanish speakers grew 60 percent since the 1990 census, making Spanish the second-most spoken language in the United States.
This large Hispanic population growth makes it important to have Spanish-speaking medical personnel, but hospitals legally have to provide translators, Karen Steves, assistant professor of Spanish, said.
"All hospitals must provide medical care in the language of the patient, whether it be Swahili or whatever," Steves said.
Patients' family members or non-medical trained people are not legally allowed to act as an interpreter, which increases the need for medical personnel to know Spanish, she said.
Students majoring in nursing at Ball State are not required to take a foreign language but those studying telecommunications, political science and English are, Ottinger said. Ball State likely would not require its nursing students to take Spanish courses, he said.
Making Spanish a required course for nursing students would be an asset to the department, Steves said, but that decision is "up to the powers that be."
"We don't have enough space to teach the Spanish majors and the foreign language department doesn't have the staff right now," Ottinger said. If Ball State were to make the change, it would possibly take 10 years to make that happen.
Steves taught a Spanish class in the School of Nursing many years ago, but the program was not revived, possibly due to funding problems, Steves said.
However, Spanish skills are not necessary in all areas of the United States, Kent Bullis, medical director for the Amelia T. Wood Health Center, said.
"In Muncie, Ind., in a private practice, it's not as important, but in a hospital, it is; it depends on the setting," Bullis said. "In an urgent care center, it becomes important. In Southern California it's going to become critical."
Language barriers typically aren't a problem at the Health Center because students at Ball State generally need to be fluent in English to succeed at the university, Bullis said. He has never encountered a Ball State employee who wasn't fluent in English either.
In the event a non-English speaking person was to need care at the Health Center, Bullis has a list of people he can call who are able to translate.
Steves encounters a broader community than the one at Ball State. She volunteers for the medical mission at For Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The patients in the free medical care program are 90 percent Hispanic.
"Almost no one has no Hispanics," she said.
Although Spanish is the most common non-English language in the U.S., Bullis said that it is not necessarily the most important for medical personnel to know.
"The Asian population is growing too," Bullis said, "[I can't] sit here and say Spanish is more important."
Medical personnel who do speak Spanish tend to have an advantage however, he said.
The lack of Spanish-speaking employees in medical fields, such as nursing, is a problem that is often overlooked, Steves said.
"It's a huge issue, and it needs to be addressed by leaders and community," she said.
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