📙 Part 2: Describe a person you know who has chosen a career in a medical field

You should say: who this person is, what they do, why they chose this career, and explain how you feel about this person.

This episode's vocabulary

Nurse (noun) - (the title given to) a person whose job is to care for people who are ill or injured, especially in a hospital.

Nursing home (noun) - a place where very old people who are ill live and receive medical treatment and care.

High-dependency unit (noun) - the part of a hospital that provides a high level of care and treatment for patients who are seriously ill or who have just had a major operation.

Patient (noun) - the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed.

Prolonged (adj.) - continuing for a long time.

In the course of something (collocation) - during an event or period of time.

Line (noun) - the type of job someone does.

To overwork (verb) - to (cause someone to) work too much.

Jovial (adj.) - (of a person) friendly and in a good mood, or (of a situation) enjoyable because of being friendly and pleasant.

Harrowing (adj.) - extremely upsetting because it is connected with suffering.

Critical care unit (noun) - the part of a hospital that provides continuous treatment for people who are seriously ill, very badly injured, or who have just had a major operation.

Questions and Answers

R: Oh, wow, I actually know the perfect person for this. My friend Steve is a nurse and has been for the better part of a decade, if not longer, now that I'm thinking about it, actually. We've been friends since high school. But of course, his career has been shorter. He's been a nurse since he started doing a course for the university, and arguably before, since he worked in a nursing home, which is sort of like nursing in the hospital, at least it is, in my opinion. He doesn't do that now, though, he's just been promoted to a position in something called the high-dependency unit, which I think means he deals with patients who are extremely ill and need a lot of care for a really prolonged period of time. Usually, I don't ask my friends why they chose their careers. It's just never come up in the course of our friendships. And it's probably not any of my business, to be honest. But I do know that Steve chose to do this because he spent time looking after his grandfather when Steve was a teenager, not when his grandfather was a teenager. And that got him interested in nursing and looking after people. And apparently he's quite good at it, which is enough to encourage anyone to keep going in any line of work, to be honest with you. He and I are friends, so obviously I'm very happy to know him, though I always worry about my friends, who are doctors and nurses, they always seem really overworked and lacking in support from the people in charge. I know I wouldn't want to do that work, but I'm glad there are people like Steve who do this kind of work. If I didn't know him, I think I'd definitely be poor for it. He seems to be quite a jovial person, even when it comes to his work, which could be quite a harrowing experience at times, especially if you're dealing with people in critical care. So good for him. And I'm glad that I know him.

M: And do you often meet this person?

R: Not as much these days, because I'm all over the place.

Discussion

M: So yes, here the topic is quite specific. We talk about a person who is a doctor or a nurse. So somebody in the medical field. So we don't really need too many specific words about medicine. But still, you know, some. And it's funny because Rory told us about his friend Steve, and Steve is a man, and Rory says that Steve is a nurse. And really? We use "a nurse"? Because it's another word. Like a nurse is usually a woman, right?

R: Not in my country, a nurse can be a man or a woman.

M: Ah, really? Oh, wow.

R: Yeah, really.

M: Interesting. So he is a nurse. Like he works in a hospital. He's a doctor. It's nice to know what doctor. So if you can Google the name of the doctor. For example, what are common doctors?

R: Oh, a surgeon. An osteopathic doctor. A cardiologist,

M: Cardiologist. There we go.

R: I think an osteopath deals with breakages and bones, and a cardiologist deals with problems with the circulatory system, especially the heart.

M: Heart. Yeah. Cardiologist. Right. What do you call a doctor who deals with allergies? A very common thing today.

R: Oh, my God. Well, I would call them an allergen specialist, but I imagine they have a different name.

M: Immunologist.

R: Oh, an immunologist? Ah, yeah, that makes sense.

M: Yeah. And the doctor who deals with our digestive organs, our stomach, and bowels. So gastro...

R: Well, again, I'd call them a gastrointestinal specialist, but what would it be? An enterologist maybe?

M: Gastroenterologist. Gastroenterologist. Yeah. Right, dear listener. So the point is, just learn one name of a doctor. Okay? You can lie, right? Or if you really have a friend who is a doctor, just find out what they call themselves. Learn this in English and say it. Okay? This is super specific band nine vocabulary. Steve is a nurse. And he has been a nurse for a long time. He works in a hospital. Right? Where do doctors usually work? In hospitals, right? Medical centres? In a medical centre?

R: In a clinic.

M: In a clinic. Okay. So present perfect. He's been a nurse since 2002, right? He has been a gastroenterologist since 2002. A very nice structure to use. He did a course. He studied for it at university. And do doctors and nurses have to study for a long time in your country?

R: I think so. I think being a nurse is like a four or five-year course.

M: Ah, really?

R: Yeah. And then if you want to be a nurse practitioner, which kind of bridges the gap between a doctor and a nurse, then it's another several years. I have a few friends who do this. They're extremely intelligent.

M: Or you can also say he's been working as a doctor. He's been working as a gastroenterologist or as a nurse. He was promoted to, right? So he used to be a doctor, and then recently he has been promoted to, I don't know, to the, like to the main surgeon? I don't know the names.

R: Chief surgeon? I guess you would have a head of department as well. I don't think doctors have such titles in my country.

M: He deals with patients. Patients? People who are usually ill. They go to the hospital. And like deal with patients. Patients, people, clients. Or, for example, your friend could deal with patients who are extremely ill, so who are very ill or sick. Or, for example, he deals with patients with cancer or patients with allergies. Right? Again, you need to find out the names for the specific diseases. So one disease and say it. Okay? As to why my friend chose his career, Rory told us, like, I don't ask my friends about it, but like, it just came up, and now I know.

R: Well, no. I never... I explained why I didn't ask him. I said it just never came up in the course of our friendships, and it's also not my business. But I do know why Steve made this choice.

M: Ah, yeah, okay, okay. If you don't know this information, dear listener, you can make it up. Okay? A good story is that your friend had to take care of their relatives, and then they decided to become a doctor, or their parents were, or are doctors, and my friend also decided to follow in their footsteps. Right? To also become a doctor. So something like this. You can lie, dear listener.

R: And when we talk about the job, we can talk about the line of work.

M: For example? How do we use it in a sentence?

R: Well, you go into a line of work. So if you become a teacher, then that would describe the line of work that you went into.

M: Yeah. So you can say that my friend spent time looking after his grandfather, who was very ill. So to look after. And then he got interested in nursing, in gastroenterology, in allergies. He's good at it, so he's good at helping people, at treating people. Dear listener, doctors treat patients. Treat. They tell them what to do. They take care of them, look after them. They treat patients. And then, if everything is successful, they cure patients. The patient is cured. They become healthy. So they treat people, doctors. You can say that I'm very happy to know him. It's always nice to have a doctor around. Yeah? And you can say that I always worry about my friends who are doctors and nurses. Worry? Because they are always overworked. They have too much work. They are overworked. And they lack support. So usually, doctors lack in support from people in charge, from their bosses. So they work a lot, they don't get support, and they are underpaid. They could be underpaid. So they are not paid enough money. I'm glad that there are people like Steve. And to finish it off you... I think it's a good idea to say something nice about doctors, about people who work in the medical field, because really, they are doing an amazing job. Okay? Because I had a few issues recently. And really, doctors helped me. It was in the middle of the night. And what they do, I don't know how they do it, seriously. It's amazing. Right? So I'm glad that we have people who choose to be doctors and nurses, because, like, what they do is amazing. So yeah, there are bad cases too, but still. Yeah, what else can you say about doctors? Anything else?

R: No, not really. Other than that they're invaluable.

M: Yeah, doctors are invaluable. Invaluable? Like we really should appreciate what they do. Invaluable.

R: So thank you, doctors, thank you nurses, and thank you for listening.

M: Prepare your talk, okay? About a person in the medical field or steal Rory's story. Okay, dear listener?

R: Find a doctor or a nurse. Bye!

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