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UE Medical English
Dr Duksha RAMFUL
Lesson 5 – Communication skills in medical english : Healthcare professionals

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Why is teamwork important in the medical field ?

● Health professionals do not work alone. They work with multidisciplinary care teams
that are patient-focused. Coordination of care is valued and all members of the team work
together toward optimal health outcomes for the patient.

● No one voice on the team is of less value than the other. Each member has equal
input and is respected for his or her professional expertise.

● Clinical care is becoming more complex and specialized, forcing medical staffs to
attempt complicated health services and quickly learn new methods. Aging populations, the
increase of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease have forced medical
staffs to take a multidisciplinary approach to health care.

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The benefits of effective teamwork

Source : Health care professional development: Working as a team to improve patient care. SUDANESE JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS 2014; Vol 14, Issue No. 2

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Five personal Values/Ethics of healthcare professionals

Honesty: Transparency about aims, decisions, uncertainty, and mistakes.

Discipline: Develop and stick to their standards and protocols, even when it seems
inconvenient while seeking ways to improve.

Creativity: Excitation and motivation to tackle emerging problems creatively and search
opportunities for improvement.

Humility: One type of training is not superior to the training of others. Team members must rely
on each other to help recognize and avert failures, regardless of where they are in the
hierarchy.

Curiosity: Lessons they learned in their daily activities and using this reflective experience in
continuous professional development.
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Healthcare professionals : doctors

A doctor who treats patients, as opposed to one who only does research, is called a clinician.

A doctor who provides primary care for patients is known as a general practitioner (GP), or
family doctor.

The two main branches of medicine are surgery and internal medicine, and the doctors who
practice these branches are called surgeons and physicians, respectively.

Specialist doctors, for example paediatricians, work in hospitals or in private health care.
Names of specialties usually end in -ology; names of specialists usually end in -ologist. If the
name of a specialty ends in -ics, the name of the specialist ends in -ician. There are some
exceptions, e.g. anaesthetics and anaesthetist

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Healthcare professionals : Main medical specialties

SPECIALITY SPECIALIST SPECIALITY SPECIALIST
anaesthetics anaesthetist obstetrics obstetrician
bacteriology bacteriologist ophtalmology ophtalmologist
biochemistry biochemist orthopaedics orthopaedist
cardiology cardiologist otorhinolaryngology otorhinolaryngologist
dermatology dermatologist paediatrics paediatrician
endocrinology endocrinologist (anatomo)pathology (anatomo)pathologist
nephrology nephrologist pharmacy pharmacist
gastroenterology gastroenterologist psychiatry psychiatrist
geriatrics geriatrician radiology radiologist
gynecology gynecologist rheumatology rheumatologist
haematology haematologist surgery surgeon
microbiology microbiologist urology urologist
neurology neurologist neurosurgery neurosurgeon
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oncology oncologist virology virologist
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Other main healthcare professionals

- Nurse, Head nurse - Orthoptist

- Dentist - Prosthodontist/Orthodontist
- Midwife - Orthotist
- Optician - Podiatrist (chiropodist)
- Physiotherapist - Prosthetist
- Physician assistant - Social worker
- Ambulance care assistant - Psychologist
- Audiologist - Radiographer/X-ray technician
- Dietitian - Medical secretary
- Nursing assistant, nursing auxiliary - Acupuncturist
- Homeopath - Speech therapist
- Psychomotor therapist/Occupational therapist - Genetic counsellor

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Some alternative career options for medical students

- Healthcare Scientist : life sciences, physiological sciences, or clinical engineering and medical physics,
etc…

- Health Service Management : management of hospital, community health services, finance accountants
etc…

- Medical Informatics : resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage,
retrieval and use of information in health and biomedicine.

- Complementary medicine : osteopathy, chiropractic, herbalism, homoeopathy, acupuncture, etc…

- Medical Journalism & publishing : articles on medical matters for a variety of media including
newspapers, magazines and professional journals, both in print and online, or work in broadcast media.

- Medical representatives : promotion of their company’s products directly to GPs and hospital doctors.

- Civil service : Ministry of Health, Healthcare Commission, Health Protection Agency, Medical Research
Council, etc…

- Medical humanitarian organization UNIVERSITE DE LA REUNION - UFR SANTE | 2022 | REPRODUCTION INTERDITE