VOCABULARY

Hospital departments

Pathology: Studies illnesses and analyzes samples Medical team meeting around
senior female patient in hospital
Cardiology: Specializes in the heart bed to discuss case
Physiotherapy: Designs special exercises for patients
Renal Unit: Treats kidney diseases
Pharmacy: Dispenses medicines
Orthopedics: Treats bones
Neurology: Treats disorders of the nervous system
Paediatrics: Deals with sick children
Hematology: Studies blood disorders
Obstetrics: Specializes in pregnancy and birth

Surgery: Performs operations on patients

MODEL CONVERSATION

Consultant: good morning. What's

wrong with you?
Patient: I'm depressed and headache
Consultant: What has happened?
Patient: I have family problems
Consultant: DO you have to make an
appointment with the psychologist
Patient: Yes, doctor.
Consultant: Do you also have a fever?
Patient: This morning I took my
temperature and thermometer read 38.5º.
Consultant: Ok ... will give you
medicine.
Patient: thanks

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 Hospital equipment

ECG-Check s for problems with the

electrical activity of the heart Dermabrader: A motor driven device
. used in dermabrasion

Microscope. Instrument used for viewing Bone Plate: A metal plate used to rec
very small objects, such as mineral onstruct a bone that has been
samples or body fluids, typically,
magnified several hundred times.

Dialysis Machine: A process of filtering

and removing waste products from the
bloodstream

Centrifuge: Applies centrifugal force to

its contents, typically to separate fluids of
different densities or liquids from solids.

X-ray Machine: Machine that provides a

sourse of X-rays

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REVIEW

Doctors 2. The consultant

1. The acute
(oemeremergency)

4. The rehabilitation doctor

do

3. Doctors

Nurses

7. The staff nurse

5. The nurses

8. The charge
nuresenurse

Others in the hospital team

The social worker

The clinical psychologist
The physiotherapist
The dietitian
Ma-ori and Pacifica health workers 3
 GRAMMAR
Choose the correct option to complete the sentences.
1 Walk into / over / through the doors at the end of the corridor.
2 Turn left / away / on after Pathology.
3 There’s a sign under / over / at the door.
4 It’s easiest to take the lift up to / on the top / into Surgery.
5 The Pharmacy is the second door on / at / opposite the right.
6 The car park is in front / inside / opposite the main entrance.
7 Go straight at the bottom of / under / towards the stairs.
8 Your ward is by / opposite / next to Physiotherapy.

Key words from the unit Complete the sentence with the words below.

dispenses
1 The pharmacy____________________medicines.

lift
2 Take the ________________________ to get to the next floor.
transport
waste lift
correidor
3 Go along this __________________and through the doors. dispenses
mortuary
reception
stretchers
4 We use______________________ for patients who can’t sit up. stretchers
corridor

Reception
5____________________________ is next to the main entrance.

waste
6 Each bed produces 4.5 kilos of ______________________________each day.

mortuary
7 Dead patients are taken to the_____________________

dispenses
8 Porters ______________________________ heavy equipment

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 Reading and vocabulary

Some hospitals specialize in particular conditions like cancer or psychiatric illness. Other hospitals
specialize in particular types of patients like geriatrics, children or the terminally ill. However, the
best known type of hospital is the general hospital which deals with almost everything, has
ambulance crews and beds for both intensive care and long stay. A big general hospital has many
different specialist departments. Identifying departments can be confusing because different
hospitals use different names for the same thing. For example, one hospital may have a ‘children’s
unit’ which a different hospital calls ‘Paediatrics’. ‘Accident and Emergency’ (A&E) in one hospital
is called ‘Casualty’ in another.
There are many other examples. The department that specializes in heart problems, is sometimes
called ‘Coronary Care’. Others call it ‘Cardiology’ or ‘Cardiovascular medicine’. Nephrology, the
department that treats illnesses of the kidney is sometimes called ‘the Renal Unit’.
Gastroenterology (digestive system) is sometimes ‘the Department of Hepatology’. Hospital staff
often use abbreviations for departments. For example, they refer to ‘Obs and Gynae’. This is a
department combining Obstetrics (pregnancy), and Gynaecology (women’s reproductive organs).
They call Otolaryngology, ‘ENT’ (ears, nose & throat), mostly because it is much easier to say.

Comprehension
a. What three types of hospitals are mentioned in the text?
General hospital; particular conditions; particular types
_____________________________________________________________
b. Which is the most common type of hospital?
The general hospital
____________________________________________________________
c. Why are hospital department names confusing?
Because different hospitals use different names for the same thing.
_______________________________________________________________
d. Which two departments mentioned in the text, deal with the gastrointestinal tract?
_ Gastroenterology (digestive system) is sometimes ‘the Department of Hepatology
_____________________________________________________________
e. How many departments is ‘Obs & Gynae’?
One department
____________________________________________________________-
f. What is a common name for the Otolaryngology Department?
The common name is ENT
______________________________________________________________

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Vocabulary
Find terms in the text that mean the same as a-g.
The first one is done for you.
psychiatric illness
a. mental health problems _________________________________
geriatric
b elderly people___________________________________________
terminally ill
c people who are dying______________________________________
ambulance crews
d paramedics__________________________________________
Beds for intensive care
e treatment for critically ill patients____________________________
digestive system
f stomach and intestines ______________________________________
women’s reproductive organs
g uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes ___________________________

Further vocabulary practice: Match department names 1-6 with parts of the body a-f.

Department name
Parts of the body

1. Coronary a. tonsils
2. Gynaecology b. cervix
3. . Obstetrics c. bowel
4. . Gastroenterology d. Heart
5. . ENT e. Kidneys
6. . Nephrology f. placenta

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WRITING
Giving directions
Use the map of a hospital and continue the email to explain how to get from the main
entrance of the hospital to the Department of Pathology.

WRITING MODEL
Regarding your outpatient’s appointment on February 15 at 10.15.

He parks in the hospital parking lot at the front of the

___________________________________________________________________
hospital.
___________________________________________________________________
Go to the main entrance there is the reception with

___________________________________________________________________
name on the door, then walk the corridor two pavilions,

the obtretrica pavilion and followed the neurology

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
pavilion, in the corner turn left and walk to the pavilion of

___________________________________________________________________
pathology that is head on take the ascension to the second

floor to be attended by the doctor on duty.

__________________________________________________________________

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