Implementing a Spanish Wikipedia elective for medical students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2026.2237Keywords:
Spanish, medical students, medical education, medical school, curriculum, Wikipedia, consumer health, public health, global health, health information seeking, crowdsourcing, open educational resourcesAbstract
Background: Individuals seeking health information often turn to the Internet for answers. Wikipedia is a dynamic, crowdsourced encyclopedia and one of the most accessed online sources for this content. However, the Spanish Wikipedia is not nearly as in-depth as the English version, creating a large disparity. Medical students with English and Spanish proficiency possess a distinct skill set that positions them to contribute timely, trusted, evidence-based content to the platform and reduce this inequity.
Case Presentation: This case study presents the implementation of a credit-bearing Spanish Wikipedia translation elective by the library for fourth-year medical students at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, currently the only Spanish Wikipedia elective in a medical school in the United States. The purpose of the course is to increase the quality and readability of medical articles in the English and Spanish versions of the online encyclopedia using evidence-based medicine (EBM) principles.
Conclusions: The output from this elective demonstrates that medical students can use their medical knowledge and skills to create and improve articles in English and Spanish on Wikipedia and disseminate evidence-based information to millions of consumers worldwide seeking reputable health information. Learners can leverage their specialized training to minimize the gap between these versions and become active participants in global health. By using technology to their advantage, they provide enduring health information that impacts and reaches many more people in a virtual setting than in a traditional one-on-one clinical encounter.
References
1. The Healthline Editorial Team. State of consumer health [Internet]. Healthline. 2024 [cited 2025 Apr 15]. Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health/consumer-health-survey#1.
2. Wang X, Cohen RA. Health information technology use among adults: United States, July-December 2022 Key findings data from the National Health Interview Survey [Internet]. 2022. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/index.htm.
3. Yu J, Meng S. Impacts of the internet on health inequality and healthcare access: A cross-country study. Front Public Health [Internet]. 2022 Jun 9 [cited 2025 Jun 10];10. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35757602/.
4. US Census Bureau. New estimates highlight differences in growth between the U.S. Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations. 2024 Jun 27 [cited 2025 Apr 15]; Available from: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/population-estimates-characteristics.html.
5. Population Clock [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jun 10]. Available from: https://www.census.gov/popclock/.
6. United States Census Bureau. Detailed languages spoken at home and ability to speak English for the population 5 years and over: 2017-2021. [cited 2025 Jun 10]; Available from: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/language-use/2017-2021-lang-tables.html.
7. Balch B. The United States needs more Spanish-speaking physicians | AAMC [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2025 Apr 15]. Available from: https://www.aamc.org/news/united-states-needs-more-spanish-speaking-physicians.
8. Kaiser Family Foundation. Addressing misinformation among Hispanic adults: Snapshot from the KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll Pilot | KFF [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jul 30]. Available from: https://www.kff.org/health-information-trust/poll-finding/addressing-misinformation-among-hispanic-adults-snapshot-from-the-kff-health-misinformation-tracking-poll-pilot/.
9. MedlinePlus - Información de salud de la biblioteca nacional de medicina [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jun 10]. Available from: https://medlineplus.gov/spanish/.
10. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus - Health information from the National Library of Medicine [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jun 8]. Available from: https://medlineplus.gov/.
11. Wolters Klewer. Evidence-based clinical solutions for healthcare | UpToDate | Wolters Kluwer [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jun 8]. Available from: https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/uptodate.
12. Wikipedia. Wikipedia:Statistics - Wikipedia [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2025 Apr 15]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Statistics.
13. Santillán A, Máñez MÁ, Meijome XM. Use of Wikipedia by health professionals. Vol. 28, Gaceta Sanitaria. Ediciones Doyma, S.L.; 2014. p. 522.
14. Kupferberg N, McCrate Protus B. Accuracy and completeness of drug information in Wikipedia: An assessment. J Med Libr Assoc [Internet]. 2011 [cited 2025 Jun 8];99(4). Available from: http://www.hon.ch.
15. Azer SA. Is Wikipedia a reliable learning resource for medical students? Evaluating respiratory topics. Adv Physiol Educ [Internet]. 2015 Mar 1 [cited 2025 Jun 8];39(1):5–14. Available from: http://www.medscape.com.
16. Areia C, Burton K, Taylor M, Watkinson C. Research citations building trust in Wikipedia: Results from a survey of published authors. PLoS One. 2025 Apr 1;20(4 April).
17. Sara Santamaria. Wikipedia en español alcanzó los 2 millones de artículos [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2025 Apr 15]. Available from: https://diff.wikimedia.org/es/2025/01/14/wikipedia-en-espanol-alcanzo-los-2-millones-de-articulos/#:~:text=Wikipedia%20en%20n%C3%BAmeros%20En%20conjunto%2C%20entre%20las,de%20unas%209000%20visitas%20diarias%20por%20art%C3%ADculo.
18. Massey PM, Langellier BA, Sentell T, Manganello J. Nativity and language preference as drivers of health information seeking: Examining differences and trends from a U.S. population-based survey. Ethn Health. 2017;22(6):596–609.
19. Sackett DL. Evidence based medicine: What is is and what it isn’t. BMJ. 1996;301:71–2.
20. De Groot M, Van Der Wouden JM, Van Hell EA, Nieweg MB. Evidence-based practice for individuals or groups: Let’s make a difference. Perspect Med Educ. 2013;2:216–21.
21. Nava A, Estrada L, Gerchow L, Scott J, Thompson R, Squires A. Grouping people by language exacerbates health inequities—The case of Latinx/Hispanic populations in the US. Res Nurs Health [Internet]. 2022 Apr 1 [cited 2025 Aug 3];45(2):142. Available from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9014464/.
22. Tan KC, Prada JL, Park YS, Ortega P. Medical student and faculty attitudes toward translanguaging with Spanish-speaking patients. Journal of the National Hispanic Medical Association. 2024 Apr 15;2(1):3–12.
23. Davis L. How college students are improving Wikipedia | New England Board of Higher Education [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2025 Apr 17]. Available from: https://nebhe.org/journal/how-college-students-are-improving-wikipedia/.
24. Mendes TB, Dawson J, Evenstein Sigalov S, Kleiman N, Hird K, Terenius O, Das D, Geres N, Azzam A. Wikipedia in health professional schools: From an opponent to an ally. Med Sci Educ. 2021 Dec 1;31(6):2209–16.
25. Joshi M, Verduzco R, Yogi S, Garcia M, Saxena S, Tackett S, Dexter N, Dempsey A, Whitaker E, Azzam A. Wikipedia editing courses at three US medical schools in the 2017-2018 academic year. MedEdPublish. 2019 Jul 3;8:146.
26. Maggio LA, Willinsky JM, Costello JA, Skinner NA, Martin PC, Dawson JE. Integrating Wikipedia editing into health professions education: A curricular inventory and review of the literature. Perspect Med Educ [Internet]. 2020 Dec 1 [cited 2025 Jun 8];9(6):333–42. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33030643/.
27. Aucar N, Viteri-García A, Simancas-Racines D, Franco JVA. Knowledge translation: Cochrane, Wikipedia and students’ initiatives. Medwave. 2020 Mar 1;20(2).
28. Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Standards, publications, & notification forms | LCME [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2025 Jun 3]. Available from: https://lcme.org/publications/.
29. Maggio LA, Steinberg RM, Piccardi T, Willinsky JM. Reader engagement with medical content on Wikipedia. Elife. 2020 Mar 1;9.
30. Wiki Edu. For Instructors – Wiki Education [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jul 29]. Available from: https://wikiedu.org/for-instructors/#instructors.
31. Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Literacy gap map [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2025 Jul 29]. Available from: https://map.barbarabush.org/.
32. English Readability [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jun 9]. Available from: https://readabilityformulas.com/readability-scoring-system.php.
33. Spanish Readability [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jun 9]. Available from: https://www.spanishreadability.com/.
34. Lopez Vera A, Thomas K, Trinh C, Nausheen F. A case study of the impact of language concordance on patient care, satisfaction, and comfort with sharing sensitive information during medical care. J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Dec 1;25(6):1261–9.
35. Shin T. Training medical students to care for patients in Spanish – Christian Medical & Dental Associations® (CMDA) [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2025 Jul 30]. Available from: https://resources.cmda.org/article/training-medical-students-to-care-for-patients-in-spanish/.
36. Evensen-Martinez M, Zapata I, Trawick A, Beck D, Martinez R, Santiago M. The influence of pre-trip medical Spanish education on a US-based, medical student service trip: A cohort study | International Journal of Medical Students. 2024 [cited 2025 Jul 30];12(1). Available from: https://ijms.info/IJMS/article/view/2441/2481.
37. Kahili-Heede MK, Patil U, Hillgren KJ, Hishinuma E, Kasuya R. Library instruction and Wikipedia: Investigating students’ perceived information literacy, lifelong learning, and social responsibility through Wikipedia editing. Journal of the Medical Library Association. 2022 Apr 1;110(2):174–84.
38. Cáceres-Würsig I, Ribas LS, Claes F. Critical skills in the translation classroom: Wikipedia as a learning environment. Cadernos de Traducao. 2024;44(1).
39. Heilman J, Shang Kuan L cheh. Making Wikipedia’s medical articles accessible in Chinese [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2025 Jun 12]. Available from: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2015/06/02/medical-articles-in-chinese/.
40. Panigrahi S. Doctors and translators are working together to bridge Wikipedia’s medical language gap [Internet]. 2014 [cited 2025 Jun 12]. Available from: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2014/07/30/doctors-working-to-bridge-wikipedias-medical-gap/.
41. Azzam A, Bresler D, Leon A, Maggio L, Whitaker E, Heilman J, Orlowitz J, Swisher V, Rasberry L, Otoide K, Trotter F, Ross W, Mccue JD. Why medical schools should embrace Wikipedia: Final-year medical student contributions to Wikipedia articles for academic credit at one school. Academic Medicine. 2017 Feb 1;92(2):194–200.
42. Pal A, Rees TJ. Introducing the EMPIRE Index: A novel, value-based metric framework to measure the impact of medical publications. PLoS One [Internet]. 2022 Apr 1 [cited 2025 Jun 10];17(4). Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35377894/.
43. Shafee T, Masukume G, Kipersztok L, Das D, Häggström M, Heilman J. Evolution of Wikipedia’s medical content: Past, present and future. J Epidemiol Community Health (1978). 2017 Nov 1;71(11):1122–9.
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 2026-04-13 (2)
- 2026-04-13 (1)
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Juli McCarroll
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
