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Physician Assistant

Medical Spanish - How to say "physician assistant" in Spanish

Introducing oneself as a physician assistant to a Spanish speaking patient or family can be a little bit tricky because this particular profession is not found in Latin America. If you try to translate each word in the title literally, you might say something like, "asistente médico," or "auxiliar médico." The listener, however, may interpret this to mean "medical assistant," which is someone who prepares a patient to be seen, ie: vital signs, etc. Another literal translation might be, "asistente de doctor," but this just means "doctor's assistant."

Let's discuss the phrase "asociado médico." The translation here is "medical associate." That's like saying, "medical partner," or "medical member..." So, you may have to follow that with more of an explanation. But there's a significant potential pitfall here. A person from Latin America may likely just assume that you meant to say, "médico asociado," which means "associated doctor." The patient or family may just think that you are introducing yourself as a doctor who is associated with something (the practice, the hospital, the insurance policy, etc.)

If I were a physician assistant, I would want to state who I am in the shortest phrase possible, a phrase that states what I do, and minimizes confusion.

I would introduce myself as an assistant certified to practice medicine, "asistente certificado para ejercer la medicina."

If I wanted to simplify the vocabulary a bit for a particular patient, I would introduce myself as an assistant certified to work as a doctor, "asistente certificado para trabajar de doctor."

Here are some examples:

Hola, me llamo Elizabeth. Yo soy una asistente certificada para ejercer la medicina.

(Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I am an assistant certified to practice medicine.)

Buenos días. Mi nombre es Jennifer. Soy una asistente certificada para trabajar de doctor.

(Good morning. My name is Jennifer. I am an assistant certified to work as a doctor.)

Buenas tardes. Soy William. Yo soy un asistente certificado para ejercer la medicina.

(Good afternoon, I'm William. I am an assistant certified to practice medicine.)

Hola, mi nombre es Robert. Soy un asistente certificado para trabajar de doctor.

(Hi, my name is Robert. I am an assistant certified to work as a doctor.)

 

 

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