English for Medical

ENGLISH FOR MEDICAL

Unit 1 In and around the hospital

TOPICS

  • Hospital personnel
  • Nursing
  • Hospital departments
  • Medical equipment

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – job interviews
  • Reading – the nursing profession
  • Writing – giving directions
  • Speaking – nurses on the ward
  • Grammar – prepositions; present simple and present continuous  verb tenses

Unit 2 Admissions, Accident and emergencies

TOPICS

  • Admissions procedure
  • Recording patient information
  • First aid
  • Signs & Symptoms

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – recording details
  • Reading – admission forms
  • Writing – completing forms; medical history
  • Speaking – giving information
  • Grammar – questions and answers; affirmative and negative questions

Unit 3 Pain

TOPICS

  • Describing pain
  • Describing Symptoms
  • Diagnosing ailments
  • Pain relief & prescribing medication

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – reporting ailments
  • Reading – analysing pain report
  • Writing – completing pain reports
  • Speaking – reporting to questions
  • Grammar – comparisons; superlatives and comparatives.

Unit 4 Symptoms

TOPICS

  • Describing symptoms
  • Human anatomy
  • Case studies, e.g. back pain
  • Medical aids

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – interpreting a helpline call; listening for gist.
  • Reading – identifying condition form symptom report
  • Writing – writing symptom reports
  • Speaking – describing medical history
  • Grammar – question forms; use of adjectives.

Unit 5 Caring for the elderly

TOPICS

  • Age care facilities
  • Medical problems of old age/ effects of aging
  • Safety in the home
  • Case study – Alzheimer’s Disease

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – responding to complaints
  • Reading – case study reading
  • Writing – letter of introduction/ referral to age care facility
  • Speaking – Stating personal needs
  • Grammar – future tenses; modal verbs

Unit 6 Nutrition & Obesity

TOPICS

  • Food types
  • A balanced diet/ food pyramid
  • Lifestyle diseases
  • Causes of obesity
  • Diabetes & eating disorder

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – TV commercials
  • Reading – analysing statistics
  • Writing – Advising
  • Speaking – Giving advice
  • Grammar – modal verbs; conjunctions

Unit 7 Blood

TOPICS

  • Blood types, patterns and transfusion
  • Blood bank and donors
  • Blood tests and analysis
  • Diseases of the blood

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – Accidents report
  • Reading – Blood transmitted diseases (AIDS)
  • Writing – Blood cells and renewing the cells
  • Speaking – Blood components , functions and usage
  • Grammar – adverbs (frequency, manner, place…etc)

Unit 8 Hygiene

TOPICS

  • Personal Hygiene
  • Food handling
  • Hygiene in the hospital environment
  • Sterilization procedures

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – Listening to and interpreting instructions
  • Reading – Reading
  • Writing – writing a hygiene laboratory notice
  • Speaking – Giving instructions
  • Grammar – modals of obligation; imperatives.

Unit 9 Monitoring the patient

TOPICS

  • Hospital bedside manner
  • Taking vital signs
  • Interpreting instrument readings and measurements
  • Describing procedures

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – following doctor’s instructions and commentary
  • Reading – interpreting medical test results
  • Writing – recording daily observations
  • Speaking – appropriate nurse/ patient bedside manner
  • Grammar – passive voice; present continuous

Unit 10 Medication and treatments

TOPICS

  • Classification of drugs/ medication
  • Types of medication
  • Administering medication/ dosage
  • Alternative treatment/s, therapies -Mind and body therapies (yoga,  sports, aqua-  puncture,  massaging…etc)

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Listening – listening to doctor’s prescribed medication and to nurse’s instructions
  • Reading – Herbal alternative treatment sources
  • Writing – Side effects of overdose or under dose
  • Speaking – expressing side effects and relevant discomfort
  • Grammar – present simple and continuous tenses. Using feeling  verbs.