English for Nursing 1

Topic 12

ASKING AND TELLING ABOUT MEASUREMENTS

Instructional objective
The students are expected to be able:
1. to pronunce well vocabularies relating to measurements, and
2. to act out the practice and therapeutic communication of asking and telling
about measurements.

Reading
Direction. Read the nursing note below and get some useful informations regarding asking and telling
about body measurements. Then, answer the following questions.

NURSING NOTE
Body measurements have been used as nutritional indices for many years. Two of
the most common are body height and body weight. Height is associated with
previous nutritional conditions, while weight is extensively used as a nutritional
measurement both for assessment and monitoring.
Different metric system might be used in another country. For example,
centimeter (cm) or meter (m) is the most common scale for body height; however,
they are not used in USA but feet and inches. This country also use different scale for
weight. They more prefer to use pounds (lbs) and ons (oz) rather than kilogram (kg).
Furthermore, for body temperature, US uses Fahrenheit (F) not Celcius (C).

Questions:
1. What is the use of body measurements?
2. What difference does USA have in their metric system compared to other
countries?

Related Vocabularies
Direction. The followings are the vocabularies related to body measurements. Practice the
pronunciation. Complete the blanks of some words with the proper pronunciation.
A. Verbs
1. Take /............../ : mengambil
2. Weigh /................/ : menimbang

B. Nouns
1. Height /.........................../ : tinggi badan

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 2. Weight /............................../ : berat badan
3. Celcius /............................./ : satuan ukuran suhu tubuh 0 – 1000
4. Centigrade /.........................../ : sama dengan Celcius
5. Fahrenheit /...................../ : satuan ukuran suhu tubuh 32 – 2120
6. Centimeter /...................../ : satuan ukuran tinggi badan
7. Meter /...................../ : satuan ukuran tinggi badan
8. Feet /...................../ : satuan ukuran tinggi badan
9. Inch /...................../ : satuan ukuran tinggi badan
10. Kilogram /...................../ : satuan ukuran berat badan
11. Pound /...................../ : satuan ukuran berat badan
12. Scale /...................../ : skala; timbangan berat badan

C. Adjective
1. Normal /............................./

Useful Expressions
Direction. Study the following useful expressions during the implementation of checking body
measurements.
Measurement Asking about ... Telling about ...
Temperature  What is my temperature?  Your temperature is thirty
seven degree centigrade
(370C).
 Is it normal?  It is normal.
 It is thirty nine degree celcius
(390C).
 You are running a
temperature.*
 You have a temperature.*

 *The temperature is higher than

normal.

Blood pressure  What is my blood  Your blood pressure is one

pressure? hundred twenty over eighty
(120/80).
 It is within normal limits.
 Is it normal?

Pulse rate  What is my pulse rate?  Your pulse rate is eighty

times per minute
 Is it normal? (80x/minute).
 It is normal.

Height  How tall are you?  I am one hundred eighty

 How tall am I? centimeters (180 cm) tall.
 You are one point six two

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 meters (1.62 m) tall.
Weight  How much do you weigh?  I am fifty kilograms (50 Kg).
 How much do I weigh?  You weigh sixty five
kilograms (65 Kg).

Listening Exercise
Direction. Accomplish the following conversation by listening to the audio file on UFLearn. Then, act out
the dialogue.
In Dr. Clark’s Clinic
Nurse : What’s your problem?
Patient : I feel hot.
Nurse : Have you taken your temperature with a thermometer?
Patient : Not yet.
Nurse : Okay. Now I need to check your temperature.
Just insert this into your right armpit.
Patient : (1) ..............................
Nurse : (2) ..............................
Okay. Now would you please weigh yourself on the scale?
Keep steady. Don’t move.
Fine.
Okay fine.
(3) ..............................
Now I need to check your blood pressure.
Patient : (4) ..............................
Nurse : (5) ..............................

(The conversations were taken from English for Professional Nurses 1 written by Leo A.
Pamudya.)

Nursing Communication Practice

Direction. Work in pair. Write a nurse-patient conversation of asking and telling about body
measurements. Submit your conversation scenario on UFLearn. Then, practice the conversation
together. You are not allowed to read aloud the scenario.

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