Integrated curriculum design: Outcomes of a two-week Spanish intensive course for nursing students

Abstract

This article analyzes the outcomes of an intensive Spanish course for nursing students of various Spanish language abilities. The course objectives were to enable the students to conduct a nursing assessment interview and data gathering in Spanish, as well as providing instructions and recording information for vital signs and a head-to-toe physical exam. Treating these interactions as standard communicative frames, utilizing Goffman’s (1974) schema, guided the course development. Vocabulary and grammar were restricted to the needs of the assigned tasks, and concentrated on speaking and receptive abilities, not on writing or reading. The course was successful in achieving the stated course objectives, and students demonstrated basic communication skills and the ability to perform the assigned tasks in Spanish at the end of the course.