Syllabus online english for nurses - getting the essentials right
1. Online English for Nurses – Getting the Essentials Right
Communicating accurately and effectively is critical to the safety, care and wellbeing of patients.
This course teaches the English that nurses need to communicate effectively in all essential
situations at work, including key patient interactions, clinical pathways, giving accurate
handovers, drugs calculations, pre-operative and end-of-life care.
The course is designed for nurses with an elementary or pre-intermediate (A2-B1) level of
English who work, or are preparing to work, in an English-speaking environment.
The course is easy to use, enjoyable and, above all, practical.
Course Content
1. Introducing yourself and saying what you do
Welcoming a patient
Talking to patients and colleagues
Describing your role and
responsibilities
Medical terminology: prefixes, suffixes
and base words
The language used in healthcare,
medical language versus everyday
health terms
Types of Allied Health Professionals
Types of doctors
The body: overview
2. Talking about pain
Discussing types of pain
Using a pain scale, pain severity
Asking about location of pain
Offering and explaining pain
medication
Types of painkillers, side effects
Giving a handover to a colleague
Talking about osteoarthritis
Grammar focus: comparatives
The body: front and back
3. Pressure area care
Assessing pressure areas - Waterlow
assessment tool
Intentional rounding - changing a
patient's position
The body: the lower back
Offering assistance to wheelchair-bound
patients
Pressure area equipment
Handover: reporting a pressure ulcer
Writing an incident report
2. 4. Injuries and falls
Medical terms: musculoskeletal
system, medical imaging
Falls in the elderly
Doing a falls risk assessment
Sprains, strains and dislocations
Grammar focus: verbs of movement
Using mobility aids - walking frames,
crutches and walking sticks
Giving advice about the care of a
plaster cast
The body: legs, thighs and hips
5. Infection control
Micro-organisms, hospital acquired
infections
Care plans and clinical pathways
Dressings – using aseptic non-touch
technique (ANTT)
Taking a temperature - reporting
abnormal readings
Taking MRSA swabs, wound swabs and
sputum specimens
Explaining isolation nursing to
patients' relatives, use of PPE
Hospital charts: observation charts
(vital signs)
The body: skin, cells and hair
6. Intravenous therapy and IV injections
Use of IV fluids
Calculations: IV fluids and IV injections
IV equipment
Doing a VIP score
Assessing intake and output
Checking and giving an IV antibiotic
Hospital charts: fluid balance chart
Avoiding needle stick injuries
Hospital charts: IV prescription -
volume and time
The body: arm and hand
7. Administration of medications
Types of medication
Drug calculation
Checking drugs, dose, frequency,
allergies
Discussing side effects and
contraindications
The body: mouth and throat
Grammar focus: might, may and
should
Medication and the elderly
Making polite requests, using could
and would
The body: ear and eye
3. 8. Breathing difficulties
Describing respiration
Monitoring respiratory rate - reporting
abnormalities
Talking about pneumonia - coughing
and sputum production
Asthma - using inhalers and nebulisers
Writing a variance in a clinical pathway
Oxygen therapy - types of equipment
Giving warnings - use of oxygen
Discussing benefits of lifestyle changes
- Quit Smoking
The body: chest and upper back
9. Pre-operative care
Explaining pre-operative preparation
Explaining post-operative care
Reassuring a patient and allaying
anxiety
Pre-op checks, taking blood pressure,
pulse
The body: arms
Talking about patient confidentiality
Managing phone enquiries
Communicating using SBAR
The body: abdopelvic
10. End-of-life care
Talking about cancer - melanoma
Talking about chemotherapy
Managing unpleasant symptoms
Listening to patient concerns
The body: mouth, throat, oesophagus
Offering spiritual care
Hospice and palliative care
Supporting relatives and explaining
physical changes near death
Places in a hospital, giving directions
and instructions
Inputs: During the course, students watch videos, listen to conversations, read medical texts,
analyse charts and graphs, look at work-related photographs and images, and study vocabulary,
grammar and pronunciation focus points.
Exercises: Students take a wide range of exercises to help learn the language they need. The
exercises concentrate on learning the English required in essential work-based scenarios.
Length: Each unit is designed to take 10 hours to complete.
Progress Assessment: At the end of every unit, there is a progress review and test so students
can assess what they have learnt.
End of Course Achievement Certificate: delivered electronically on course completion.