Starting in 2010, Medical Mandarin aims to provide students with sufficient Medical Mandarin knowledge to facilitate effective patient communication and medical interviewing.
Eligible Participants: The course is open only to medical students. However, no prior experience in Mandarin is required.
Course Content: The course consists of a Beginner class and an Advanced class, which are both one hour in length. Participants in the Beginner class gain a basic foundation in Mandarin vocabulary and interview skills, whereas Advanced participants gain more in-depth clinical interviewing skills in Mandarin.
Clinical Experiences: Throughout the year, students participate in Mandarin-speaking community service events where they are paired side-by-side with American-Chinese physicians and health care professionals to provide medical care to a non-English-speaking population. Students also have the opportunity to complete a Global Health rotation in Taiwan or China during the summer after M1 year or during the spring of M4 year.
Course Instructors: Two second-year medical students teach the Advanced class, while the Beginner class is led by a second-year medical student and a Mandarin-speaking Rutgers graduate student.
Elective Directors: Calvin Wang (cw1028@rwjms.rutgers.edu), Celina Zhou (cz422@rwjms.rutgers.edu), Emily Wang (ew461@rwjms.rutgers.edu), George Hung (gah103@rwjms.rutgers.edu), Matthew Silverman (ms3648@rwjms.rutgers.edu)
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Karen Lin
Apply medical Mandarin terminology to obtain a history and perform a physical using Mandarin. Participate in community outreach activities with Mandarin-speaking patients.
Learn the vocabulary of common diseases and complaints in Mandarin and English.
Advocate for the use of qualified interpreters if encounters exceed student’s proficiency level.
Initiate conversations with Mandarin-speaking patients.
Discuss cultural beliefs and practices unique to the Mandarin-speaking community.
Facilitate improved patient access by bridging the language barrier between Mandarin-speaking patients and English-speaking physicians and staff.
Students who successfully fulfill the requirements will receive a notation of completion on their academic transcript.
Attend at least 8 lectures.
Participate in 2 community service events that serve patients whose primary language is Mandarin.
View the Medical Mandarin course description here.