Exercises:
1. Complete the sentences. Look at A to help you.
1. Children, over-60s, and people with some chronic diseases do not have to pay.........................................................in the UK.
2. Patients with mobility problems may be unable to go out.
They are..............................................
3. The average GP..................................is ten minutes long.
4. A ............................is someone who takes the place of a staff member who is on leave.
2. Make word combinations using a word or phrase from each box. One
word can be used twice. Look at A and B to help you.
change make perform refer run supervise take |
|
messages staff appointments home visits dressings a clinic a patient minor surgery |
3. Which member of a practice team would be responsible for each of the
following? Look at B to help you.
1. Running a clinic for pregnant women
2. Teaching a patient how to strengthen his broken leg
3. Letting the GP know that a patient can't come to her appointment
4. Running a clinic for people who want to lose weight
5. Visiting a patient who has just returned home after operation
6. Carrying out check-ups on children in a poor neighbourhood
7. Organizing cover for an absent doctor
Unit 7 Blood l esson 1
Full blood count
In the investigation of blood diseases, the simplest test is a full blood count (FBC). A full blood count measures the following in a sample of blood:
the amount of haemoglobin
the number of the different cells – red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leucocytes) and platelets (thrombocytes)
the volume of the cells
the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) – a measurement of how quickly red blood cells fall to the bottom of a sample of blood.
Anaemia
Anaemia is one of the commonest diseases of the blood. It may be due to:
bleeding – loss of blood
excessive destruction of red cells
low production, for example because the diet is lacking, or deficient in, iron (Fe).
A medical student has examined an elderly patient with a very low level of haemoglobin and is discussing the case with her professor:
Professor: What's the most likely diagnosis in this case?
Student: Most probably carcinoma of the bowel (рак кишечника) with chronic blood loss.
Professor: What's against that as a diagnosis?
Student: Well, he hasn't lost weight.
Professor: What else would you include in the differential diagnosis of severe anaemia in a man of this age?
Student: He might have leukaemia of some sort, or aplastic anaemia, but that's rare – it would be very unusual. Another cause is iron deficiency, but he seems to have an adequate diet.
Professor: OK. Now, there's another cause of anaemia which I think is more likely.
Student: Chronic bleeding ulcer?
Professor: Yes, that's right. But what about pernicious anaemia? Can you exclude that?
Student: Well, he's got none of the typical neurological symptoms like paresthesiae.
Pernicious anaemia
Jordi
Pons, the medical student from Barcelona, has made some language
notes in his textbook.
Pernicious anaemia
(PA)
is a condition in which there is atrophy of the gastric mucosa with
consequent failure of intrinsic factor production and vitamin B
malabsorption. The onset
is insidious,
with progressively
increasing
symptoms of anaemia. Patients are sometimes said to have a
lemon-yellow colour owing to a combination of pallor
and mild
jaundice
caused by excessive breakdown
of haemoglobin because of ineffective red cell production in the bone
marrow.
A red sore
tongue (glossitis) is sometimes present. Patients present with
symmetrical
paraesthesiae
in the fingers and toes, early loss of vibration
sense,
and
progressive
weakness and ataxia. The spleen may be palpable.
onset = beginning
insidious = slowly developing
pallor = lack of colour
mild = slight
jaundice = bilirubinaemia
breakdown = division into smaller parts
bone marrow = soft tissue in the cavity of bones
symmetrical = each side the same
vibration sense = ability to feel vibrations
progressive = continuing to develop
palpable = can be felt with the hand