🧭 Learn to Assess Orientation in Spanish
00:00
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to assess a patient’s orientation in Spanish. This lesson kicks off our Mental Status Exam in Spanish series.
This is the first lesson in our series on patient orientation. In upcoming member lessons, we’ll practice assessing memory, attention, concentration, and language, all with a practical, clinical focus.
LEVEL – INTERMEDIATE
🔑 Want access to the full lesson? ¡Hazte miembro!
(Learn the difference between a docmolly.com membership and an Apple Podcasts subscription.)
🎓 Already a Member? Assessing Orientation within our Spanish for Mental Health course.
👉 Check out our other free lessons for Mental Health!
🙏 Gracias a Daniela Grave por su ayuda con el español de esta lección.
Opening Questions
02:24
First, in this opening section, you’ll learn how to start the interview (iniciar la entrevista), ask about the reason for the visit and how the patient arrived at the hospital, and begin introducing the mental status exam.
📌 Vocabulario
costarle hacer algo – to be difficult for someone to do something
Me cuesta hacer eso. – It’s hard for me to do that
recordar – to remember
los detalles – details
permitirle hacer algo – allow someone to do something
¿Me permite hacerle algunas preguntas? – May I ask you some questions?
sencillo(a) – simple
evaluar – to evaluate, to assess
estar al tanto de – to keep up with, be aware of
reciente – recent
Estoy al tanto de los eventos recientes. – I’m keeping up with recent events.
🗣️ Interpretación
¿Qué le trae al hospital hoy?
What brings you to the hospital today?
In this question, “le” refers to the patient. Since the patient is the direct object of the verb traer, you could also use “lo” or “la“: “que lo trae al hospital” or “que la trae al hospital”. However, it’s very common to use “le” in this context to show respect to the patient. This is an example of leísmo de cortesía.
¿Cómo llegó aquí?
How did you get here?
Up to this point, the patient hasn’t responded appropriately to the questions. Therefore, we now begin the mental status exam.
Okay, he notado que le cuesta recordar los detalles de algunas cosas.
Okay, I’ve noticed you have trouble remembering some details.
Por eso, ¿me permite hacerle algunas preguntas sencillas para evaluar si usted está al tanto de los eventos recientes?
So, may I ask you a few simple questions to assess whether you are keeping track of recent events?
Starting a request with “¿me permite…?” is a very respectful way to speak with the patient.
Person
Next, we’ll focus on personal orientation. You’ll practice key questions to ask the patient about their identity (identidad) and the identity of anyone accompanying them.
📌 Vocabulario
nacer – to be born
año de nacimiento – year of birth
acompañar – to accompany, to be with
acompañante – companion
🗣️ Interpretación
¿Me puede decir su nombre, por favor?
Could you tell me your name, please?
¿En qué año nació?
What year were you born?
¿Quién es la persona que le acompaña?
Who is the person with you?
The “le” in this question is another example of leísmo de cortesía.
Place
10:36
After that, we’ll look at how to assess the patient’s orientation to their surroundings (su entorno) and their understanding of the reason (motivo) for their visit.
📌 Vocabulario
el edificio – building
el país – country
el estado – state
la ciudad – city
el domicilio actual – current address
🗣️ Interpretación
¿Sabe en qué lugar estamos ahora?
Do you know where we are now?
¿Qué tipo de edificio es este?
What kind of building is this?
¿En qué país/estado/ciudad estamos?
What country/state/city are we in?
¿Cuál es su domicilio actual?
What is your current address?
We use “domicilio” in this question because we’re interested in knowing whether the patient recognizes where they currently live, rather than whether they can recall an exact address. Here we’re looking for answers like “Vivo con mi hijo” or “Vivo en un departamento para personas mayores,” rather than a specific street address.
Time
15:20
Finally, let’s practice questions for orientation in time.
📌 Vocabulario
el momento del día – time of day
la estación – season
el verano – summer
el otoño – fall
el invierno – winter
la primavera – spring
🗣️ Interpretación
¿Qué momento del día es?
What time of day is it?
¿Es por la mañana, por la tarde o por la noche?
Is it morning, afternoon, or evening?
Notice the use of the preposition “por” in this question.
¿Recuerda qué día (de la semana) es hoy?
Do you remember what day (of the week) it is today?
¿Recuerda en qué mes estamos?
Do you remember what month it is?
¿Recuerda en qué año estamos?
Do you remember what year it is?
¿En qué estación estamos?
What season are we in?
📚 ¡Gracias por estudiar español médico con nosotros!