Part 1

DISCUSSING TREATMENT AND PROGNOSIS

A new diagnosis may upset a patient.  They might worry about dying (because it is a serious OR fatal OR deadly illness), how ill they are going to be, about treatment, about how quickly treatment will take effect, and if they can get better.

A chronic disease might mean there is no cure, and they must have treatment or change their lifestyle long term.

They will often ask or pose questions.

Reassuring

Lessen worry with language that ‘downplays’ (softens) tone:

• This is quite common
• The treatment is fairly simple
• It’s easy to treat
• You just take medication for a few days
• It often settles down on its own, without treatment

Answer questions about complications or side effects also with ‘downplaying’:

• Some OR A few people have side effects but not many
• Complications are very unusual OR happen very seldom
• People rarely have problems with …

Counter bad news with more positive information:

• Unfortunately, this is chronic but we can manage it with medication.
• Regrettably, you’ll need medication long term but it won’t prevent a normal daily life.
• You’ll need some lifestyle changes but they are usually helpful OR effective.   

Mention other help to improve faster:

• I can give you patient information about (illness)…
• I would like OR I’d like to refer you to the (specialist) …
• I’m going to refer you to the (specialist), as well.
• I recommend OR I can recommend OR I’ll recommend (person or service)…
• You can always call us or come back if …

SPEAKING EXERCISE Part 1

Reassuring
Practice repeating ALOUD each example sentence in the lesson above. Focus on the common collocations, RUNNING THEM TOGETHER until they flow as ONE EXPRESSION. The collocations are underlined.

READING LESSON PART 2

Giving opinion or showing you are not worried

You can give your opinion or show you are confident that all will be well in the end. This often reassures the patient :

• I think you’ll improve quickly with… (treatment)
• I’m pretty sure you don’t need to worry.
• In my opinion, you shouldn’t worry.
• There’s no need for concern. It usually settles quickly.
• I wouldn’t worry (if I were you)   

NOTE ABOUT THIS LAST SENTENCE: It might seem odd to say this about yourself to your patient, but in English, it is polite, professional and reassuring language.

SPEAKING EXERCISE Part 2

Giving Opinion

Practice repeating ALOUD each example sentence in the lesson above. Focus on the common collocations, RUNNING THEM TOGETHER until they flow as ONE EXPRESSION.  The collocations are underlined.

READING LESSON Part 3

Emphasizing

HOWEVER, if the patient has a serious illness, they must understand this. We use:

1. strong modal verbs e.g. should, ought to, must and need to
2. intensifiers e.g. very, really, especially, extremely,  absolutely, completely, totally, highly, without fail, much too

• You really ought to use your eye drops every day.
• You should also see your eye doctor without fail because you could lose your sight.
• Your blood pressure is quite high. We must get it under control. It’s very important in glaucoma.
• We should also be absolutely sure you can still drive safely.
• Your father had diabetes, so I highly recommend regular blood sugar checks, as well.

SPEAKING EXERCISE Part 3

Emphasizing

Practice repeating ALOUD each example sentence in the lesson above. Focus on the common collocations, RUNNING THEM TOGETHER until they flow as ONE EXPRESSION.  The collocations are underlined.

READING LESSON Part 4

Predicting  outcome (discussing prognosis)

Patients may ask about different possible outcomes and how likely they are:

• “What are the chances of…?”
• “What usually happens (in cases like mine OR to people like m OR when…)?”
• “What’s usually the case?”

You can talk about the usual course of illness (how the disease usually behaves) with:

1. modal verbs like might, may, can
2. adverbs of frequency – never, seldom, rarely, occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently, always, inevitably

• Glaucoma Patient: Will these blind spots in my vision go away?
• Doctor (softening bad news, countering): Unfortunately, they usually don’t. But medication might prevent more from developing.
• Patient: Do I need surgery?
• Doctor (reassuring): Glaucoma patients often need surgery, but you don’t need it yet.
• Patient: What are the chances I’ll go blind?
• Doctors (informing, emphasizing): If patients follow treatment, they don’t usually go blind. Without treatment, they almost always do.
• Patient: Do others like me go blind overnight?
• Doctor (countering, being confident): That can happen but not often. Using your medication decreases the risk.

SPEAKING EXERCISE Part 4

Predicting

Practice repeating ALOUD each example sentence in the lesson above. Focus on the common collocations, RUNNING THEM TOGETHER until they flow as ONE EXPRESSION.  The collocations are underlined.

READING EXERCISE

Function of language

Instructions: Choose which main function (purpose) the speaker’s language is serving. In each question, only one answer is correct.