Complaints in the hospital

Lekce angličtiny ve virtuálním prostředí Languagelab

Business Lesson: Complaints in the hospital

Students: Mustafa 58 Coy, Queen Lyric, RitaL, Solmaz Ashland, Tatka (Europe,Asia)

Teacher: Kori Blaisdale (UK)

What can happen in the hospital? Many things can happen and unfortunately sometimes some of them go wrong. In that case people usually complain.  It can go both ways. The doctors and nurses should have the right to complain about unruly patients (patients who are difficult to control)

What do you think means?

[00:23] Kori Blaisdale: to be under doctor's orders

When you are a patient and the doctor strongly advices you to stay in bed and prescribes you a medicine for example….that’s a doctor’s order

Some people could have acute problems with their stomach for example an ulcer (break in the skin or organ that does not heal naturally) or some kind of bleeding and they would need an operation. In that case the doctor’s orders after operation would be nil by mouth – nothing through the mouth. Most probably makes you very hungry but saves your life.

People can get misdiagnosed (wrong diagnosis), over or under medicated (too much or lack of medication).

Rooms or wards or equipment can be unclean – unsanitary. That could be a big problem. There are lots of bacteria, viruses or other evil things which, if permitted to multiply and spread around, they can become really dangerous and kill people. There was a huge outcry (strongly expressed anger of public about something) in the UK few years ago regarding the cleanliness of hospitals. It was catastrophic. Fortunately it’s getting better now.

If we talk about a condition that is unreal or imaginary we would use past tense. When we talk about consequences of this situation we use would.

That’s called 2^nd conditional

It sounds difficult but it’s quite easy.

An imaginary situation:

If I was in a dirty room…….

It is an imaginary situation because you can ask:

Am I in the dirty room now? NO

Do I imagine this situation? YES

Consequence of the previous situation:

I would complain to the nurse.

So the 2^nd conditional sentence goes;

If I was in a dirty room I would complain to the nurse.

The form:                               If + Subject (I) + verb in past tense

Subject (I) + would + verb in present tense

This works for any sentence in 2nd conditional. Below are two scenarios where you could try to use it.

If I was a nurse…..I would…………

If I was a doctor….I would……….

If I was in this situation…..I would………….

Doctors, nurses and nursing professionals have a hard job! They deal with conflict every day. Look at the following conflict scenarios and decide what the professional should do in each situation following this conflict advice given by a hospital training website:

Listen actively.

Don’t interrupt or become defensive.

Repeat the person’s comments as objectively as possible.

Request suggestions for dealing with the problem.

Examine options and decide on the best approach.

Try to have an open and honest discussion of misunderstandings.

Scenario 1

You are caring for a patient/client who is intoxicated with drugs and alcohol. He/she develops aggressive behaviour towards you and other colleagues by verbally shouting and swearing. Using your learning from previous activities within this section, identify how you might resolve this conflict.

Scenario 2

You are caring for a patient/client and it has been reported by a new member of the healthcare team that he/she has physically hit out at them while carrying out prescribed treatments with him/her. What factors should be considered and how would you resolve this situation successfully for both the patient/client and the member of staff?