PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE MEDICINE UNIT 5 MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS 1

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE MEDICINE

UNIT 5 MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS 1

A.       Practitioners

In Britain, doctors, also known as medical practitioners, must be qualified; have a university degree in medicine. They must also be registered – included in the General Medical Council’s list, or register – in order to practice. A doctor who treats patients, as opposed to one who only does research, is called a clinician. A doctor who provides primary cares for patients is known as general practitioner (GP), or family doctor. GPs usually work in a group practice. Larger group practices work in a building called a health centre.

Note: In British English, the verb is spelt practise and the noun is spelt practice.

B.        Specialties

Specialist doctors, for example paediatricians, generally work in hospitals. However, those who work outside the NHS, providing private health care, may have consulting rooms outside a hospital – for example in the famous Harley Street in London.

The two main branches of medicine are surgery and internal medicine, and the doctors who practise these branches are called surgeons and physicians, respectively. In Britain, male surgeons are addressed as Mr and females as Ms – so Dr Smith is a physician, and Ms Smith is a surgeon.

A cardiologist	specializes in is a specialist in	diseases of the heart and circulation, or cardiology.
A geriatrician		diseases of elderly patients, or geriatrics.
An anaesthetist		anaesthetics

Note: Names of specialties usually end in –ology; names of specialists usually end in –ologists. If the name of a specialty ends in-ics, the name of the specialist ends in –ician. There are some exceptions, e.g. anaesthetics and anaesthetist.

C.       Choosing a specialty

Jill Mathews has just graduated from medical school and is talking about her future.

‘I haven’t decided what to specialize in yet. I need more experience before. I decide, but I’m quite attracted to the idea of paediatrics because I like working with children. I’d certainly prefer to work with children that, say, elderly patients – so I don’t fancy geriatrics. I was never interested in detailed anatomy, so the surgical specialties like neurosurgery don’t really appeal. You have to be good with your hands, which I don’t think is a problem for me – I’ve assisted at operations several times, and I’ve ever done some minor ops by myself – but surgeons have to be able to do same thing again and again without getting bored, like trying off cut arteries and so on. I don’t think that would be a problem for me, but they need to make decisions fast and I’m not too good at that. I like to have time to think, which means surgery’s probably not right for me.’

Note: the collocation good with is followed by a noun – He’s good with children. The collocation good at is followed by the –ing form (gerund) of a verb, or by a noun – she’s good at explaining procedures. She’s good at explanations.

EXERCISES

5.1.         Write sentences to describe the work of the specialist in each branch of medicine. Look at B opposite to help you.

1	dermatology	A dermatologist specializes in diseases of the skin
2	rheumatology
3	traumatology
4	paediatrics
5	obstetrics

5.2         Complete the table with words from A, B, and C opposite and related forms. Put a stress mark in front of the stressed syllable in each word. The first one has been done for you.

Verb	Noun (person)	Noun (activity or thing)
specialize
practise
consult
assist
graduate
qualify

5.3          Find prepositions in C opposite that can be used to make the word combinations with the words in the box. Then use the correct forms of the words to complete the sentences.

good

interested

specialize

work

1	A pathologist _________ diagnosing disease through examining cells and tissue.
2	A paediatrician must enjoy _________ children.
3	An oncology is  _________ the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
4	A psychiatrist must be _________ counselling.
5	A neurosurgeon must be _________ her hands.

5.4`        Make word combinations using a word from each box. Two words can be used twice. Look at A,B and C opposite to help you.

consulting		centre
general		practice
group		specialties
health		medicine
internal		practitioner
surgical		rooms

ANSWER KEY