International Elective Rotations for Medical, Nursing, PA and NP Students
An approved international elective in Costa Rica and Ecuador, built around medical Spanish, community health, and an interprofessional cohort. February and July every year.
Immersion is the fastest way to learn Spanish, and one of your final rotations is the best chance you will get to do it properly. This elective is an approved international rotation at universities across the United States, and it is open to any student or clinician who wants to use Spanish with patients.
Who This Rotation Is For
Students
MD, DO, PA, NP, APN and RN.
Residents
We accept medical residents, and regularly do. If you are in residency and want to build clinical Spanish before you are practicing independently, this rotation is open to you.
Practicing Clinicians
Practicing clinicians in any of the fields above.
There is no Spanish minimum. Instruction is set to your actual level, so this rotation works whether you took Spanish through college or have never studied it.
Timing and Length
Length
The full elective runs four weeks. Three-week options are available within the same four-week block, and start dates and lengths are flexible in most cases. You will want to confirm you are still meeting your home program’s minimum requirements, and we will work with you on the rest.
What a Day Looks Like
Monday through Friday you will be busy, and most of that time you will be operating in Spanish.
Half the day in the community
You will be in an underserved community delivering health education on topics the community itself has asked us to cover. You prepare this material extensively during pre-departure preparation, alongside the other students and professionals on your cohort.
Half the day in class
Medical Spanish instruction at our partner language school, roughly 20 hours across the week, set to your level.
Evenings with your host family
You go home to a household where English is not an option. You cook together, you talk, and your Spanish improves in the way it only can when you have no alternative.
Weekends are yours
Most participants plan a couple of short trips. We also suggest you stay home with your host family for at least one weekend so you can be part of normal family life rather than only the guest.
The Interprofessional Part
You will not be in a cohort of people from your own discipline. Medical, nursing, PA, pharmacy and public health students work together on the same community health projects, all of them stretched by working in a second language.
That shared constraint flattens the usual hierarchy. Everyone is operating at the edge of their Spanish rather than the edge of their training, and the collaboration that results is difficult to reproduce on a home campus.
What This Rotation Is, and What It Is Not
What it is
A community health and medical Spanish rotation. Students work with the immersion team delivering health education in Spanish alongside local partner organizations, and that is where the learning happens.
What it is not
It is not a clinical placement rotation. We do not place students into hospital or clinic rotations, and we say so plainly because the distinction matters when you are meeting a program requirement.
What you gain instead is substantial: the ability to work with Spanish-speaking patients, direct exposure to how care is delivered under real resource constraints, and an ethical framework for international health work that most students never receive. Our medical outreach is supervised by local physicians, and we have a small team of physicians and PAs who help supervise our programs in Costa Rica and Ecuador.
Where You Will Be
Costa Rica
Santo Domingo de Heredia, a residential suburb north of San José. It is not a tourist town, which is exactly the point.
Ecuador
Cuenca, a colonial city in the southern highlands.
Some program structures combine both countries in a single trip.
Credit and Paperwork
Your institution awards the credit. We handle the documentation to help you get it.
If you need a course description to submit to your academic program, we have one ready to download and send. If your program needs something else, ask, and we will complete whatever paperwork gets your rotation approved.
If you are a medical, nursing, PA or NP student looking for an international elective rotation, download and submit this course description to your academic program.
Accreditation and Support
Our medical Spanish immersion programs are CME and CE accredited. Every program includes 24 hour leadership, coordination and support from Common Ground program leaders, with daily on-site mentorship. You are not left to work it out alone.
What Participants Say
“For me, this elective rotation taught me lessons that they do not include in the medical school curriculum. I was able to gain an understanding of the culture of many of my future patients. No other experience in school has taught me this much about another culture, about healthcare abroad, and about myself.”
Camri M., Phase 4 MD Student, Colorado
Our medical Spanish immersion program is rated 4.94 out of 5 across 131 participant reviews.
For Universities and Program Directors
If you are placing a cohort rather than an individual student, see our faculty-led global health rotations and risk management and student safety pages, or request a proposal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Reserve Your Spot
Reserve your spot, or schedule a call. Related programs: PharmD APPE rotation, public health practicum, and all international rotations.
Do you take medical residents as well for No Call rotations? Thanks!
Hello Marie, yes we accept residents as well & we’d love to work with you!