Emergency Room, medical spanish help

New to course...been teaching myself some spanish to use at my work...really need to ask some questions about talking with patients coming into the ER. First I would like to know what greeting is polite to use on pts. coming to ER because they are sick...don't know if pleased to meet you or buenas noches is appropriate. I would very much like to have some help with discussing symptoms with patients. Also I am a woman, 55 yrs old, I live in Mississippi, US. Do I use the Ud. form with pts. or should I use the tú form because I am older than most of our spanish speaking pts. I very much want them to be comfortable and not afraid when coming to our ER.

Rezz, I also am wanting to learn spanish to help patients and ease their fears by communicating to them what is going on. I am a CMA but will be getting my EMT-B also. I have thought about the extra researching and learning I will need to do to learn medical terminology in spanish. This is probably something we will need to do on our own. I may be wrong, but that's what I was willing to do anyways. I just started with Rocket today =) Anyways, to answer your question: Think of how you would greet a patient in English, and just translate that. I'm not sure if you are a doctor / nurse/ etc. but people feel safer and calmer when they feel like they know the person who is helping them. It wouldn't be a good idea to just say "Hello, I'm Natalie and I will be doing such and such" or "Hi, I'm Natalie and I'm here to help" Usted forms of "tu" is more respectful and more professional when speaking to adults, or the parents of pediatric patients. When speaking to children, "tu" is better. We have 'pet' names for children in English and it's the same in Spanish. Sweetheart, Lil' Bit, Hun ... Papi, Mija. Children is more informal. But adults want to feel like you are professinal and know what you are doing when it comes to treating themselves or especially their children.

Thank you Natalie for your response. I will use Ud. and tú as you suggest. I am a nurse and usually say "Soy enfamera Sandy. Hablo solo un pocito español." I can ask about dolor, una fiebre, tiene tos and can ask "Está embarazada?..cuantas semanas, or cuantas meses?, I think this is correct.,not sure of spellings,..but can you tell me how to ask "has your water broken" and "how many minutes apart are your contractions"...I am glad you are going for EMT and all...you will be needing to know many of the same things that I want to know because of my work in the ER. I think i have the spanish correct to say "I am nurse Sandy. I speak only a little Spanish." dolor is pain, una fiebre-a fever, tiene tos-do you have a cough..está embarazada? - are you pregnant?..how many weeks or how many months...but girl if you are a CMA and to become an EMT, then you will already know that we like for babies to be born on the OB floor NOT, I repeat, NOT in the ER or in the back of the ambulance, lol...so therefore the questions of the day MUST be "has your water broken?"...and "how far apart are your contractions?" lol,,,do you agree?

Oh, and also Natalie...what does papi and mija mean?..i'm sure it is for little ones.

Rezz, I think papi means "daddy" and mija is short for "mi hija," my daughter

muchas gracias, nohablo...that makes sense, now help me out here...how about, "has your water broken", en español lol, someone out there has to be pregnant or knows someone who is...this is serious stuff!, verdad? ayudame, por favor...comó se dice, "has your water broken"

Soy enfermera y partera también pero soy estudiante de español. ( I am a nurse and a midwife too but I am a spanish student). Tal vez (maybe).......Have you (formal) broken your waters?.....¿Ha roto sus aguas? ¿Qué color está su agua? ?No está verde? (What color is the water? It is not green?). ¿A qué hora comienza el dalor en su barriga? ( At what time did you commence the pain in your belly?) ¿Tiene sentir su bebe moviendo? (Have you felt your baby moving?) Not sure about any of this but try it and see. Buena suerte and let me know what you learn.

thank you Lisa, very much...this is great...I will write all of this down and for sure will learn and use it...how about, have you had any problems with this pregnancy?...tal vez, ¿Ha tener (any) problemas con esta embarazada?...what word says pregnant and which says pregnancy?...I'm sure I could look that part up in a dictionary, but it is more fun to ask it here...I have learned a great deal about verbs in the present tense but not in past tense...what's the word for any?...and how many times have you been pregnant?...Cuantas veces have you been ...embarazda? good to know how to ask if the fluid is green...I know how to ask if she is bleeding...Está sangrando?..but not about blood clots...sometimes when you just look up words, it is not correct because the grammar or general use of a phrase is not the same