60. Case presentations PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE FOR MEDICINE

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE FOR MEDICINE

60. Case presentations

A	Sections of a case presentation In a case presentation, a doctor presents the details of a patient’s case to the colleagues at a clinical meeting in a hospital. A typical case presentation is divided into the following sections: Section Example language Introduction I’d like to present Mr Simpson, Patient’s age and occupation A 34-year-old plumber Presenting symptom(s) and duration who presented with a one-month history of breathlessness. Associated symptoms He also complained of ankle swelling which he’d had for two weeks. Past medical history There was no relevant past history Social history He was married with one son. He smoked 25 cigarettes a day and drank about 50 units of alcohol per week. Family history His father died of myocardial infarction at the age of 42. His mother was alive and well. Findings on examination On examination, he was obese … Investigation results We did a chest X-ray which showed … Diagnosis So we thought he had … Treatment We gave him intravenous furosemide and … Outcome – what happened He responded to treatment and was discharged home.
B	Bedside presentation A less formal type of case presentation can take place at a patient’s bed, for example during ward rounds, when the house officer presents a new patient to the consultant; or in teaching ward round, when medical student presents a case to the tutor. This type of presentation begins less formally: √ This is Mr Simpson. He’s 334, and he’s a plumber. He came into hospital yesterday, sent by his GP. He’s complaining of breathlessness, which he’s had for one month….
C	Slides In a formal presentation, the main points are usually summarized on slides.

EXERCISES

60.1	Write the abbreviations in words. Look at A and C above and at appendix II on page 131 to help you. c/o _________________________ 2/52 _________________________ PH _________________________ FH _________________________ MI _________________________ BP _________________________ 1/12 _________________________ nil _________________________ SH _________________________ a&w _________________________ OE _________________________ CXR _________________________
60.2	Put the sections of a short informal case presentation in the correct order. Look at A above to help you 1 Mr Collin is a 60-year-old security guard. 2 There was no relevant previous medical history. 3 He smokes 20 cigarettes per day and drinks 15-20 units of alcohol each week.
60.3	Read the presentation below and make notes for a slide. Look at C above to help you I’d like to present Mr McNamara who’s 63-year-old taxi driver who presented to be the Outpatient Clinic with a three-month history of increasing shortness of breath and ankle swelling. He has a chronic cough with purulent sputum and occasional haemoptysis. Of note in his past medical history was that he’s had a partial gastrectomy in 1980.

Answer key