HowHow to to effectivelyeffectively learnlearn

MedicalMedical EnglishEnglish

Grzegorz Chodkowski (MD)Grzegorz Chodkowski (MD)

Riga, Radisson SAS

2009

InformationInformation

isis

POWERPOWER

SisypheanSisyphean challenge ?challenge ?

"Never, never, never quit.“

Winston Churchill

TodayToday’’ss AgendaAgenda

1. Medical Collocations

2. Medical vs. Colloquial English

3. Abbreviations

4. Internet resources / cultural context

Medical Medical CollocationsCollocations

vomiting reflexover the counter drug

intermittent claudicationdraping

surgical accesstemporary pacing

paroxysmal vertigourinary incontinence

habitual abortionplain abdominal X-ray

elective surgerychild-bearing age

muscle bulkfasting glucose

vemšanas reflekssbezrecepšu medikaments

mijklibošana

pacienta sagatavošana operācijai

pārklājot ėermeĦa daĜas ar steriliem

pārklājiem

operācijas pieejapagaidu mākslīgais sirds ritms

pēkšĦi reiboĦiurīna nesaturēšana

ieraduma abortsVēdera dobuma pārskata

rentgenogramma

plānveida ėirurăijareproduktīvais vecums

muskuĜu kūlītisglikozes līmenis tukšā dūšā

Medical Medical vsvs. . ColloquialColloquial EnglishEnglish

A variety of Accents!A variety of Accents!

Liverpool (Scouse)

•East London (Cockney)

•London 100 immigrant

Languages (1979)

Newcastle (Geordie)

East AnglianBirmingham (Brummie)

Yorkshire

Cornish (3,500)

Scotland

1% speak Gaelic (2001)

Wales

20% Welsh

Northern Ireland

7% of the population speak Irish

England

Lancashire

‘Queens English’ (Spoken by 2%)

In the UK 70%

of the population

speak English

monolingually

Punjabi is used

by 1.3 million

people in the UK

Good CommunicationGood Communication

• Improves patient care

• Creates a good rapport (relationship) with your patient

• Use effective body language (eye contact)

• Allow enough consultation time

• Listen well

• The GMC & NMC ‘Code of Conduct’ states:

““always use language that your patient always use language that your patient understandsunderstands”” - Avoid medical jargon

What the Patient says!What the Patient says!• “Ooh, I’ve got really bad guts Dr!”

= “I‘ve got pain in my abdomen”

• “I’ve been puking for 2 days!”

= “I’ve been vomiting for 2 days”

• “I broke my collar bone 6 months ago”

= “I broke my clavicle…..”

• “I’m having trouble down below!”

= “I’m having trouble with my genitals”

• “I’ve been bleeding from my back passage”

= “I’ve been bleeding from my anus”

What the Dr can say!What the Dr can say!

• Instead of asking “please inhale”

Say “please breathe in or a take a deep breath”

• Instead of “administering an intra-venous Infusion”

Give your patient “a drip”

• Instead of asking “where does the pain radiate?”

Ask “does the pain go anywhere else?”

• Instead of saying “you need an endoscope”

Say “we need to pass a tube with a camera into your stomach”

AnatomicalAnatomical ColloquialismsColloquialisms

1. Abdomen = ”belly, tummy, stomach, guts”

2. Umbilicus = ”navel, belly button, tummy button”

3. Axilla = ”arm-pit”

4. Sternum = ”breast-bone”

5. Anus = ”back passage, bum, hole”

6. Larynx = ”voice box”

7. Trachea = ”wind pipe”

Symptom Symptom ColloquialismsColloquialisms

• Generally feeling ill

= ”Feel sick, not well, poorly”

• Diarrhoea

= ”loose stools, the runs/trots, the shits!”

• Pain

= ”it’s sore, it hurts, it aches, it’s killing me!”

• Vomiting

= ”puking, throwing up, unable to keepanything down”

Symptom Symptom ColloquialismsColloquialisms

• To be febrile

= ”a fever/temperature, burning up”

• Nasal discharge

= ”snotty nose or runny nose”

• Menstruation

= ”period, time of the month”

• Flatulence

= ”farting, passing wind”

SymptomsSymptoms

tachycardia: fast heart rate

palpitations: sensation of pounding, beating, fluttering

paraesthesia: pins and needles

oedema: swelling

intermittent claudication: pain in legs whilst walking

rhinitis: running nose

nasal discharge: snuffles, snotty nose

glossitis: a sore tongue

menorrhagia: heavy periods

Things which are Taboo!Things which are Taboo!Things that we are embarrassed to talk about Things that we are embarrassed to talk about

usually have lots of colloquial phrasesusually have lots of colloquial phrases

• Death

“kick the bucket, snuff it, pass away, go to rose cottage, meet your maker, pop your clogs, etc”

• Cancer

“the big c, a tumour, a lump, a growth, or something serious”

• Female Genitals

”down below, private parts, front passage”

MedicalMedical AbbreviationsAbbreviations

HowHow many ?many ?

50505050

950950950950

250250250250

3250325032503250

7250 7250 7250 7250

1250125012501250

350350350350

750750750750

550550550550

450450450450

5 5 5 5

tds, qds, qid, bid, od, om, ac, pc, nocte, stat, NPO

FOBT, ABG, ESR, CXR, FBC, MSU, U & E, C&S, FBS, OGTT,

HO, CC, HPI, s/b, w/o, d/c, c/o, DOE, DOA, NAD, WNL,

TTA (TTO), NRM, VSS , AAO, ADR, BOM,

FUO, FTT, DVT, LOC , PUD, VV, AI, DM, COPD, ACS,

TKR, AKA, D&C, LP, TAH , UTI, AAD, IBS

RTW, TBC, TCI,

Internet Internet ResourcesResources

Last year medical student, medical blogger at

Scienceroll.com and microblogger at

Twitter.com/Berci. I will start PhD in personalized

genetics this year. I also give slideshows about web

2.0's impact on medical education and healthcare. I try

to ease the work of physicians and scientists by

recommending useful tools and sites and by

presenting them the new world of web 2.0.

I'm the founder of the first medical web 2.0 guidance

service at Webicina.com and I launched the first

university credit course for medical students that

focuses on web 2.0 and medicine

(med20course.wordpress.com)

I've given lectures at several clinics and departments

at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of

Debrecen. I gave presentations at the Medicine Meets

Virtual Reality Conference (Long Beach, CA in 2008 and

2009); at the University of Yale, School of Medicine, at

the centre of World Health Organization, at the

Medicine 2.0 Congress in Toronto or at the clinics of

Greenwich, among others.

SpecialtiesCreating web 2.0 based medical/scientific sites,

blogging, organizing information, communication and

e-education.

www.scienceroll.com

ThankThank YouYou!!

AnyAny QuestionsQuestions??