Hospital English: Patient Case Studies
Hospital English: Patient Case Studies is a medical English course covering common health problems or disease states. Each Unit contains a patient case study and disease state article for the 12 different health issues. The course builds reading competence, medical vocabulary, and speaking confidence for using medical English with patients or clients.
The textbook is available globally on Amazon.
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Hospital English: Patient Case Studies is a medical English textbook designed for university level students studying English as a foreign language. The course teaches medical vocabulary, introduces language for case studies, and helps students to discuss common medical problems and conditions with confidence in English. This is a core English curriculum with listening, reading, writing, and speaking activities with each unit.
This course was designed for nursing students, but can be used with any healthcare specialty and welfare studies. The course book provides a foundation for necessary medical English to ready students for reading medical literature and communicating with patients or clients. It covers symptoms, treatments, medical testing, life-style modification therapies, medication, and follow-up care plans.
The students are not required to have previous medical knowledge or training. To start, the textbook covers simple medical problems (infections, burns, allergies, broken bones.) These are common medical issues with symptoms and treatments that university freshman will have had experience with or are familiar with. It builds up to more complex health conditions and treatments as the course progresses.
The editors for Hospital English: Patient Case Studies are two US registered nurses with experience working all across the United States and abroad. Through their careers, they have provided direct patient care and also served in management roles in hospital and patient care settings.
Each chapter focuses on one common medical problem that should be familiar to the students. Each disease state is meant to also introduce different hospital units and specialties. There are 12 Chapters in all:
Chapter 2: Fractures
Chapter 3: Dementia
Chapter 4: Allergies
Chapter 5: Burns
Chapter 6: Hypertension
Chapter 7: Food Poisoning
Chapter 8: Arthritis
Chapter 9: Diabetes
Chapter 10: Pneumonia
Chapter 11: Metabolic Syndrome
Chapter 12: Anorexia Nervosa
The unit topics spread a range of specialties and departments in the hospital, including orthopedics, radiology, cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, pediatrics, pulmonology, physical therapy and more.
Each chapter in the textbook follows a structured format designed to introduce and reinforce key medical topics for first-year university students. Each chapter focuses on one common medical problem that students should already be somewhat familiar with. If needed, they can look up the topic in their native language for additional context.
Warm-up Discussion Questions: Simple questions related to the unit topic encourage students to engage in conversation, connect with the subject matter, and recall relevant vocabulary and concepts.
Pre-Reading Vocabulary: Each unit includes a list of ten key words taken from the patient case study. Students match these words to their meanings to build familiarity with important medical terminology.
Case Study: A realistic patient case introduces the health problem, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. This section presents relevant medical vocabulary and concepts in context.
Case Study True/False Questions: A set of ten comprehension questions checks students' understanding of the case study.
Case Study Discussion Questions: Six questions prompt students to discuss the case study and related topics, encouraging them to articulate their thoughts using their own words.
Disease State Article: A brief explanation of a medical condition, including symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, provides a general overview of the unit's main topic.
Disease State Discussion Questions: Three questions help students summarize and discuss the medical topic. Students also outline key points and practice roleplaying a professional-patient dialogue.
Vocabulary Exercises: Students revisit the Pre-Reading Vocabulary and apply the words in written sentences.
Additional Vocabulary: A list of commonly challenging words with simplified definitions helps students understand key terms within the unit.
Follow-up Activities: Each unit includes three suggested activities:
Write a Follow-Up Story: Students create a continuation of the patient case study.
Presenting a Patient: Students summarize and verbally present the case study as if reporting in a medical setting.
Vocabulary Quizzing: A review activity focused on reinforcing key terms from the unit.
This structure ensures that students engage with the material through reading, discussion, and practical application.
Hospital English: Patient Case Studies
Hospital English also contains free teaching materials for medical English vocabulary, English conversations in the hospital, and lesson plans based around various medical procedures. In addition to the 2 course books, there are a variety of free online resources on the site for both students and teachers: vocabulary builders, patient counseling activities, disease state directors, healthcare professional articles, medical flashcards, hospital English lesson plans, ESP worksheets, and more to come!
I am a US licensed pharmacist. I have worked at Yale New Haven Medical Center, Hartford Hospital and retail pharmacies. I live abroad and have been teaching English as a foreign language since 1999. I currently teach medical English classes at 2 nursing colleges in Japan. These resources were designed for my students but are posted here free for all to use. They can be adapted for use as teaching materials for doctors, nurses, physical therapists, radiologists, physician assistants, pharmacists, and more. I hope you find them stimulating and useful.
Questions, comments, encouragement, suggestions... please email them in. More to come. Please check back.
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