9. Hospital PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE FOR MEDICINE

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE FOR MEDICINE

9. Hospital

A	Introduction to a hospital Jordi Pons is a fourth-year medical student from Barcelona. He has come to Britain on a elective attachment to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburg. Dr Barron is introducing him to the hospital. Dr Barron: The Royal Infirmary is the name of the university hospital for Edinburg University. It is a general hospital, dealing with all types of patients and illnesses, except paediatrics. We have a specialist hospital for that in another part of Edinburg, The Hospital for Sick Children. You can see some of the departments in our hospital on the sign. Of course, there are many others, for example the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and the Surgical High Dependency Unit (HDU). Jordi: What does ‘outpatient’ mean? Dr Barron: Outpatients are the people who come to hospital to attend a clinic or to have tests or treatment and then return home on the same day. Inpatients stay in the hospital for one or more days. The room where they stay are called wards. If a patient’s treatment requires only one day, such as a simple operation, they can be admitted to the day surgery unit.
B	Outpatients Dr Barron: The Accident and Emergency Department (A&E), is also called Casualty, is where patients who are acutely ill- with a sudden, serious condition- come for assessment and treatment. Outpatients who have an appointment to see a specialist go to a clinic in one of the Outpatients Departments (OPDs). They have usually been referred to the hospital by their GP, who writes a referral letter to the consultant explaining the patient’s problem.
C	Inpatients Dr Barron: The inpatients in a hospital are admitted in one of three main ways. They may be seen in one of the outpatient clinics and admitted from there or, if there is a lot of demand for the treatment they need, as in the case of a hip replacement, they are put on a waiting list for admission. Alternatively, their GP may arrange the admission by telephone because they are acutely ill, for example with suspected myocardial infarction. Or they are seen in the A &E department, where the doctor on duty-working at that time- arranges the admission. This would happen in the case of a patient with a fractured neck of femur, for example. Larger hospitals may have an assessment unit where patients can be admitted temporarily while their condition is assessed. Jodi: Assessed? Dr Barron: Yes-decisions are made about their condition, and what needs to be done to help them. Aftter treatment is completed, the patient is discharged back to the GP’s care.

9.1	Complete the table with words from A, B and C above. Put a stress mark in front of the stressed syllable in each word. The first one has done for you.
9.2	Make word combination using a word from each box. Look at C opposite to help you.
9.3	Which hospital departments would be most appropriate for the following patients? Look at A, B and C opposite to help you. 1 a woman in a diabetic coma 2 a patient who has just had a radical prostatectomy 3 a patient who is to have a skin lesion removed 4 a man with a foreign body in his eye 5 a woman with a threatened abortion
9.4	Complete the extract from an information leaflet for patients. Look A, B and C above to help you. Information for outpatients When you arrive at the (1) ____________, please tell the receptionist who will welcome you, check your details, and direct you to the waiting area. The length of your visit will depend on the (2) ____________ you’re going to have. You may need to..

Answer key