English Medical Terminology

Think about it - - when you go to your doctor, you expect him or her to know about everything  that will make you feel better.  To do that, your doctor reads research papers, medical journals, and attends professional conferences.  He or she tries to stay current.

Physicians stay current in English.  Why?  Because English is the international language.  More people speak English as their second language than people who are native speakers of English.  International airline flights are controlled in English.  Oil trading is done in English.  And medicine is done in English.

There is a huge need for Vietnamese physicians to learn English – and in particular, English medical terminology.  To medical professionals, it’s not really the jawbone – it’s the mandible.  It’s not the breastbone, it’s the sternum.

MEDRIX provides English medical terminology training to the physicians of Hue Central Hospital.  The doctors met in small classes over a period of three weeks and were instructed by MEDRIX volunteer Cindy Young, R.N.  Her years of experience in the medical field coupled with her 1 ½ years of experience teaching English at the University of Hue make her the ideal teacher.

(Be sure to click on a photo to see a larger version.)

Course study books (which included a CD) were purchased and donated by American physicians for use by their Vietnamese colleagues.  All the bac si (physicians) in the class already have a high level of English speaking skills – they need to know the fine points of their professional jargon.  Having Cindy say the words helps them to pronounce the words correctly, but she is also available to answer questions about the deeper meanings of words and the context in which they will be used.

Cindy is in full control of the class – she keeps things moving and on task.  Words appear on the wet board, are dissected, explained, and pronounced.  Yet she has a self-deprecating way about her that stood her well when the students found an error.  After researching in a medical dictionary, Cindy realized a mistake had been made.  She used the incident to cement a close relationship with her students by “keeping score.”  That brought a chuckle to everyone’s face.  Cindy was always careful to address each student using their title, such as “What is the accented syllable in gastroenterology, Dr. Trang?”

The doctors took copious notes – they knew this was their chance to grow professionally.  The physician who took these notes is scheduled to travel to the United States for advanced studies.  MEDRIX hopes he will return to Hue better trained to care for the people of central Vietnam.