Learning the correct specialist terms is important for doctors and nurses, but there is much more to learning medical English. Students of medical English can prepare for real-life situations by using role-play to practice the language skills they need.

1. How to learn the medical
English you really need
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Learning the correct specialist terms is important for doctors and nurses, but there is much more to
learning medical English. Students of medical English can prepare for real-life situations by using
role-play to practice the language skills they need.
More than terminology
Medical English courses often focus on the medical terminology and specialist language. Yet doctors
and nurses also need a much broader range of language skills to be effective in their work, because
much of their communication is with patients or other non-medical staff, who do not use this
specialized English.
Real medical English
Doctors and nurses need to be competent and confident using both technical and colloquial language.
Medical staff often find they need to translate between the ordinary and specialized ways of talking:
colleagues want to be efficient and precise, yet patients want to easily understand and be reassured
that their health is in good hands.
Example situation: bedside manner
Bedside manner is the ability to communicate with patients in a compassionate, caring and clear way,
which often means not using medical terms, but instead using more colloquial language. Bedside
manner is gaining increasing recognition as an important skill. Many medical schools now include it in
their training and some formal examinations (such as the USMLE) require trainee doctors to
demonstrate their professional bedside manner using role-play. Doctors and nurses with good
bedside manner are able to listen, support and reassure their patients; yet they also offer honest and
open communication. It is not an easy balance to keep, but there are clear benefits for both the
patient and the doctor. Patients feel more comfortable and they have greater confidence in their
doctors; doctors gain more accurate information from their patients (and so reduce the risk of
mistakes) and they build a more trusting relationship.
Broader communication skills
Bedside manner involves key communication skills that help the doctor or nurse relate to the patient.
• Compassionate listening allows the doctor to get a more complete picture of the patient’s
situation and it also helps the patient feel heard and understood.
• Politely requesting permission (to sit on the patient’s bed or to take the patient’s temperature)
demonstrates respect to the patient, and gives them greater control in an uncertain situation.
• Translating between technical & colloquial language allows the doctor to explain medical
treatment so that the patient understands. The doctor also needs to be able to accurately discuss
the case with medical colleagues.
• Discussing emotions as well as physical sensations can help patients feel more comfortable.
These skills are especially challenging for non-native speakers. Medical terminology may seem more
accurate, but patients actually need medical staff to talk in an ordinary way. This can be difficult for
doctors and nurses who are not speaking in their native language, so students of medical English
need to learn and practice the language they need in real-life situations.
Preparing for real-life situations

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Students can make use of language classes to help prepare for specific situations at work.
Simulations or role-plays allow the student to think about scenarios that are especially difficult or
frequently occur. They can then prepare what they want to be able to say next time it happens.
• Frequent & difficult situations: concentrating on situations that often happen allows the non-
native speaking doctor/nurse to feel both comfortable and professional in everyday situations. It is
also important to consider challenging scenarios because these can be worrisome, even though
they may not take place that often.
• Role-plays: students can prepare by writing out a typical conversation, correcting it with the
teacher in lesson and then practicing it in a simulated dialogue. The student may want to play
both roles, to better understand how patients respond.
• Phrases: learning phrases (and not just individual words) gives students small chunks of
language that they can use again and again in similar (but different) circumstances. Phrases
allow us to respond more quickly in conversation because we don’t spend time thinking about how
to construct a sentence. We use some phrases again and again, so these ones are especially
good to learn.
• Relevant and motivating: when students focus on real situations the lessons are much more
relevant and motivating; it also means the student is learning exactly what is needed, when it is
needed.
Practice what is really needed
Doctors and nurses who are not native speakers of English need to focus on the kind of language
they really need to use at work. Some of this may be technical terminology, but much of it will be
more colloquial and it is important to practice this informal language too. Mastering both specialized
and informal English allows medical staff to work effectively and develop good professional
relationships with both colleagues and patients. Students of medical English can prepare for these
future conversations using role-play in language lessons. Role-plays and simulations create a safe
space to experiment with a range of scenarios and to gain a sense of how different language can be
used according to the situation.