Introduction:

according to the 2002 Census, 50% of the population speak the two languages "Guaraní and Castellano", 37% monolingual in Guaraní. Guaraní is necessary to establish a good common bond between patients and health professionals.

Objective:

to evaluate the level of knowledge about the basic medical terminology in Guaraní of the health professionals of the Regional Hospital of Coronel Oviedo.

Method:

observational, descriptive study with cross - sectional analytical component with non - probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases. The data were collected through a self-administered survey with the variables of interest. The level of knowledge was classified as low, medium and high.

Results:

100 subjects aged 23-70 years (35 ± 7.5 years) were included, of whom 54% were female. The years of service range from 1 to 47 years (13.15 ± 11.63 years). 40% of the doctors and 54% of the nurses performed well. The correlation among the doctors between the years of service and the percentage obtained was 22% (R2 = 22.94 p <0.05).

Conclusion:

The level of knowledge about basic medical terminology in Guaraní of both physicians and nurses is classified as good. A large percentage of professionals surveyed said that knowledge of medical terminology is very useful in their profession.

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