Exercises:
1 Write sentences to describe the work of the specialist in each branch of medicine. Look at B to help you.
1 dermatology A dermatologist specializes in diseases of the skin.
2 rheumatology
3 traumatology
4 paediatrics
5 obstetrics
2 Complete the table with words from A, B and C and related forms. Put a stress mark in front of the stressed syllable in each word.
Verb |
Noun (person) |
Noun (activity or thing) |
specialize |
|
|
practise |
|
|
consult |
|
|
assist |
|
|
graduate |
|
|
qualify |
----- |
|
3 Find prepositions in C that can be used to make word combinations with the words in the box. Then use the correct forms of the words to complete the sentences.
good interested specialize work |
1A pathologist …………diagnosing disease through examining cells and tissue.
2A paediatrician must enjoy ………… ……….children.
3An oncologist is…………..the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
4A psychiatrist must be……………….counseling.
5A neurosurgeon must be……………….her hands.
4 Make word combinations using a word from each box. Two words can be used twice. Look at A, B and C to help you.
consulting general group health internal surgical |
|
centre practice specialties medicine practitioner rooms |
Lesson 2
Hospital staff
The people who work in any type of workplace, including hospitals, are called the staff. The medical staff in a British hospital belong to one of four main groups:
A рге-registration house officer (PRHO), or house officer, is a newly graduated doctor in the first year of postgraduate training. After a year, he or she becomes a registered medical practitioner. In the current system of training, the Foundation Programme, the name for these junior doctors is Foundation Year 1 doctor.
A senior house officer (SHO) is in the second year of postgraduate training. The title is now Foundation Year 2 doctor , but the old terms senior house officer and SHO are still used.
A specialist registrar (SpR) is a doctor who has completed the Foundation Programme, and is training in one of the medical specialties. There are also some non-training registrars - doctors who have completed their training but do not wish to specialize yet.
A consultant is a fully qualified specialist. There may also be some associate specialists - senior doctors who do not wish to become consultants. In addition, there is at least one medical (or clinical) director, who is responsible for all of the medical staff.
Medical teams
Consultant physicians and surgeons are responsible for a specific number of patients in the hospital. Each consultant has a team of junior doctors to help care for those patients. In many hospitals, there are multidisciplinary teams which consist not only of doctors but also of physiotherapists and other allied health professionals.
When patients enter - or are admitted to - hospital, they are usually seen first by one of the junior doctors on the ward where they will receive treatment and care. The junior doctor clerks them – takes their medical history – and examines them.
Some time later, the registrar also sees the patients, and may order investigations or tests, for example X-rays or an ECG, make a provisional diagnosis, and begin treatment. The consultant usually sees the new admissions - people who have recently been admitted to the ward - for the first time on one of the regular ward rounds, when the management of the patients is discussed with the registrar. Consultants also decide when a patient is ready to be discharged (sent home). On the ward round, the consultant is accompanied by the team and a nurse, and they visit all the patients in the consultant's care.
Shifts
Junior doctors now normally work in shifts, which means they normally work for eight hours every day, for example 7 am to 3 pm, and are then free until 7 am the next day. After a week they change to a different shift, for example 3 pm to 11 pm or 11 pm to 7 am. The alternative system is to work from 9 am to 5 pm every day and to take turns to be on call - available to return to the hospital if necessary - from 5 pm to 9 am the next day. Days on call are set out in a rota, or list of names and times. Doctors on call carry a radio pager, or bleeper, a device which makes a noise when someone is trying to contact them.