Medication Instructions in Spanish (forms / routes / frequency)

Medical Spanish Terminology

Several useful terms for giving medication instructions to your Spanish-speaking patients, along with some practice sentences where you put it all together.

This vocab is useful for a wide variety of healthcare workers, in just about any practice setting.

Video Version

Written Version

English	Spanish
You can give him/her a teaspoon of acetaminophen every 4 to 6 hours to lower fever and pain.	Puede darle una cucharadita de aceminofeń cada 4 a 6 horas para bajar la fiebre y el dolor.
One should take a pill every day with food.	Hay que tomar una pastilla todos los días con las comidas.
Syrup	El jarabe
Medication	El medicamento
Medicine	La medicina
IV fluid/med	El suero
The needle	La aguja
The syringe	La jeringa
The bottle	La botella
The tablespoon	La cucharada
The teaspoon	la cucharadita
The injection	La inyección
The pill	La pastilla / La píldora
The prescription	La receta
Half of a pill	Media pastilla
The ointment	El ungüento
The cream	La crema
The drops	Las gotas
The patch	El parche
The inhaler	El inhalador / La pompa
By mouth	Por boca
by inhalation	Por inhalación
Below the tongue	Debajo de la lengua
In the eye	En el ojo
In the ear	En el oído
By rectum / In the rectum	Por la recto
In the affected area	En el área afectada
3 times per day	3 veces al día
Before going to bed	Antes de acostarse
Half an hour before breakfast	Media hora antes de desayunar
Every 8 hours	Cada 8 horas
With food / With meals	Con las comidas
With a lot of water	Con mucha agua
When needed / necessary	Cuando es necesario
After getting up in the morning	Después de levantarse
Everyday	Todos los día
Once a day	Una vez al día
In the morning	Por la mañana
In the afternoon	Por la tarde
In the evening	Por la noche
Every other day	Un día sí, un día no
You need to take one pill 3 times a day.	Necesita tomar una pastilla 3 veces al día.
You should take this medication with meals.	Debe tomar este medicamento con comidas.
You have to take this pill 1/2 hour before bedtime.	Tiene que tomar esta pastilla media hora antes de acostarse.
You can take this pill every other day.	Puede tomar esta pastilla un día sí, un día no.

The "Learn Medical Spanish" Podcast

To hear these medical Spanish dialogues as a podcast, subscribe on your favorite platform!

(You can also find it by searching “Learn Medical Spanish” on just about any app.)

Ben

Ben has been practicing as a physician assistant, or PA (similar to a doctor) in emergency medicine, family practice and urgent care since 2014. He became fluent in Spanish while living in Guatemala for 2 years, and now tries to help other healthcare professionals learn medical Spanish so they can care for their patients more effectively.