NIH Stroke Scale in Spanish

Podcast: Download

A member at docmolly.com recently requested that I cover the NIH Stroke Scale in Spanish. The NIH Stroke Scale is a neurological exam used to grade the severity of a stroke. When a patient presents to the hospital with a suspected stroke, the NIH Stroke Scale is performed soon after they arrive and multiple times throughout their stay. Therefore, I think this set of lessons will be very helpful to providers working in the hospital.  Thank you Jaime for your suggestion!

In today’s dialogue, you will hear a patient present to the ER after the sudden onset of right leg weakness and the first portion of the NIH Stroke Scale exam in Spanish. In the premium lessons at docmolly.com we will complete the review of today’s dialogue and the rest of the NIH Stroke Scale exam.

OJO: All the audio lessons at docmolly.com are for the sole purpose of learning Spanish, they are not intended to teach medicine and should not be viewed as medical advice. Therefore, in this set of lessons on the NIH Stroke Scale, we will not be learning how to perform the exam, rather we will be learning Spanish that may be useful when performing such an exam. 

LEVEL – INTERMEDIATE

2:20 Skip to dialogue

Dialogue

D: Buenas tardes. Soy el doctor Méndez. ¿Usted es la señora Martínez?

P: Sí soy yo.

D: Dígame. ¿Qué le pasa? ¿Qué le trae a las urgencias hoy?

P: Bueno. Estaba trabajando en el jardín y casi me caigo. De repente sentí la pierna derecha débil, sin fuerza. Y la siento adormecida.

D: ¿Cuándo ocurrió esto?

P: No sé. ¿Hace casi una hora? Salí a trabajar a la una y ya son las tres. Entonces serían las 2.

D: Muy bien. Voy a hacer una evaluación completa. ¿En qué mes estamos?

P: Agosto

D: ¿Qué edad tiene usted?

P: 64 años.

D: Muy bien. Ahora voy a pedirle que realice dos tareas. ¿Lista?

P: Sí, lista.

D: Cierre los ojos. Ahora ábralos. Haga un puño con su mano izquierda. Y ahora abra la mano. Muy bien. Ahora quiero que mire mi dedo y lo siga hasta este lado. Y ahora hacia el otro lado…. sin mover la cabeza, por favor.  Siga mi dedo. Bien hecho.

3:33 Skip to Review

Review

Introductions

Buenas tardes. Soy el doctor Méndez. ¿Usted es la señora Martínez?
(Good afternoon. I’m doctor Méndez. Are you Mrs. Martínez?)

During introductions, we use definite articles before titles. Learn when to use a definite article before one’s title.

Sí soy yo.
(Yes, that’s me.)

We conjugate the verb SER according to the pronoun. Practice using the verb SER with pronouns. (This is a premium lesson, so you must be Spanish Grammar member to access this link.)

D: Dígame. ¿Qué le pasa? ¿Qué le trae a las urgencias hoy?
(Tell me. What is wrong? What brings you to the emergency room today?)

What’s wrong?

Dígame.
Dime.
(Tell me.)

¿Qué le pasa?
¿Qué te pasa?
(What’s wrong?)

las urgencias
la sala de urgencias
la sala de emergencias
(the emergency room)

¿Qué le trae a la sala de emergencias?
(What brings you to the emergency room today?)

Expressing Past Events

Bueno, estaba trabajando en el jardín y casi me caigo. De repente sentí la pierna derecha débil, sin fuerza. Y la siento adormecida.
(Well, I was working in the yard and I almost fell. Suddenly, my right leg felt weak, limp. And it feels numb.)

She sets the scene with the imperfect tense: “Estaba trabajando en el jardín.”

She uses the present tense to express something that almost happened, but was never completed: “Casi me caigo.”

sin fuerza
(limp)

She uses the preterite tense to express a discrete event that occurred at a specific point in time: “De repente, sentí la pierna derecha débil, sin fuerza.”

Sentir + la parte del cuerpo + adjetivo.

Sentí la pierna derecha débil.
La siento adormecida.

adormecido/a
entumecido/a
(numb)

Siento la pierna entumecida.
(My leg fees numb.)

Practice describing your body using the construction: Tener/Sentir + la parte del cuerpo + adjetivo.

Want to learn more?

More Free Lessons Related to Strokes

• Doña Luisa presents to the ER unable to speak.
• Atrial Fibrillation in Spanish
• Q&A – Palpitations, and More

Sneak Peek at the Premium Lessons

If you like this lesson and want to continue to review today’s dialogue, go to docmolly.com. For a limited time, you can get the premium lessons reviewing today’s dialogue for free.

Member?

Access the Stroke series.

Special Thanks to Javier!

Finally, this lesson features Spanish teacher, Javier Méndez of the San Pedro Spanish School in San Pedro, Guatemala. In 2016, my niece and I spent two weeks there studying Spanish and had the time of our lives. I plan to return this year, and I highly recommend the school.

Un abrazo a todos, y nos vemos en docmolly.com!

Have a question?

You can always email me at molly@docmolly.com or leave a comment under this post. There’s a link to the post at the bottom of these shows notes.

Gracias por escuchar. Thanks for listening.
These lessons are solely for learning Spanish. They are not intended to teach medicine or provide medical advice. 

© Doc Molly’s Podcasts, LLC, All rights reserved. 2018.