EMP English for Nursing and Health

Excerpt from English for Medical Purposes: Health Care Assistants

2012-02-10T12:17:00.000Z

This is an example of the sort of activities which are in 'English for Medical Purposes: Health Care Assistants' . How did you go?

Activities of daily living

· Maintaining a Safe Environment

· Communication

· Breathing

· Eating and Drinking

· Elimination

· Washing and Dressing

· Thermoregulation

· Mobilisation

· Work and Play

· Expressing Sexuality

· Sleeping

· Death and Dying

Ex 6: Answer the following questions using information from the text above and words in the box below

pass urine maintain mobility aids

self care trip over

1. ADLs are described as the types of activities which most people do every day for _______________________.

2. Maintaining a safe environment means to ensure that there are no objects which a person can _________________.

3. Elimination refers to toileting, that is, the ability to ____________________ and have a bowel movement with or without the assistance of aids such as catheters.

4. Thermoregulation is the ability to ______________ normal body temperature to avoid fluid loss or discomfort.

5. Mobilisation covers all areas of movement either by walking or using ____________ such as walking frames or wheelchairs.

EMP: Health Care Assistants is out!

2012-02-10T02:05:00.000Z

What about language support for Nursing Assistants?

2012-02-09T09:41:00.001Z

I was working on a ward the other day with some terrific Health Care Assistants and Nursing Assistants, as they are called in the UK. Health Care Assistants are support workers who have undertaken a competency-based programme (similar to the CNA in the US) while Nursing Assistants have not. Whilst HCAs and NAs are not classed as nurses in the UK, they still perform what I classify as 'nursing activities'. They take patient observations and do blood glucose testing and urine testing. If they complete specialised training they are able to perform higher level activities such as venepuncture and performing ECGs.

Nursing Assistants also work in Care Homes or in the homes of the elderly where they are generally referred to as 'carers'. In the UK, as in many other English-speaking countries, there are large numbers of overseas workers who work as carers and nursing assistants. At times, communication in the workplace is difficult as carers often look after the elderly who may be hard of hearing or suffer from dementia.

HCAs who work in hospitals work under the direct supervision of an RN. This means that any changes in patient condition, for instance abnormal vital signs, must be reported immediately to the RN on duty. RNs may also ask HCAs to perform a patient activity and then report the results. For example, 'Can you take Mr Smith's BP and let me know what it's doing?'.

I felt that there was a need for an EMP book aimed at the HCA / Certified Nursing Assistant as this group is an ever-growing group which are relied on to provide nursing care in our hospitals, despite the label of 'support worker'. Training is often 'on-the-job' with little time to revise the language used during the activities.

I have almost completed the next self-published 'English for Medical Purposes: Health Care Assistants' and look forward to feedback from followers of my blog. I would love to hear from teaching and nursing colleagues. Any thoughts about language support for this group of healthcare workers?

English for Medical Purposes :The Heart 2nd ed

2012-02-04T10:35:00.002Z

Second edition of English for Medical Purposes: The Heart

2012-02-04T09:25:00.000Z

I am continuing to learn about self publishing and marketing to a wider audience. I revised the first edition of 'English for Medical Purposes: The Heart' . The second edition will soon be available on lulu and also on amazon. The aim of the books in this series is to provide more authentic content and some grammar and spelling tips than is possible in strictly communication focussed books. The content is in the form of medical terminology and vocabulary used in charts and documents.

I still work as a Registered Nurse in NHS hospitals in the SW of England and try to keep my eye out for any hospital documents which may cause difficulties to overseas nurses. If charts can be reviewed before nurses come across them at work, there is a greater chance that overseas nurses will be more confident in their use.

The aspect of content in EMP courses is always a difficult issue as EMP courses must ensure that they are not trying to teach nursing or medical skills but instead teach the language skills needed to perform them. Having said that, there is always a chunk of vocab which is specific to each nursing or medical activity and which needs to be understood before the basic communication skill can be effective.

Face-to-face time in the class-room is best spent practising communication skills with time spent learning vocab and medical terms out of the class-room. This is because a part of learning medical terminology and healthcare vocab is memorising which needs to be 'little and often'.

I am continuing the series with 'English for Medical Purposes: The Lungs' and also 'English for Nursing Assistants' . But, for now, please keep your eye out for the second edition of 'English for Medical Purposes: The Heart'. Feedback very welcome!

First of the EMP booklets

2012-01-26T22:34:00.001Z

The first EMP Teacher Training seminar was a great success

2012-01-25T09:06:00.001Z

The first of the EMP seminars was held at the Wimbledon School of English www.wimbledon-school.ac.uk/ last Saturday. Many thanks again to the staff at WSE- what a great venue! If I were a student I would be very happy there, I'm sure. A lovely garden available at the rear of the building and in full view of the sitting area. Beautiful and clean class-rooms so we were spoiled.

Ros Wright, Marie McCullagh ('Good Practice') and I ('Cambridge English for Nursing') spoke on different aspects of EMP teaching. Cleve Miller (English360) spoke on using blended learning in the classroom. I was also able to give a brief overview of Vocab Trainer (www.ck-translations.eu/) during my presentation.

The focus of my presentation, 'Putting Communication First in Medical English' is the world of the overseas nurse coming to work in the UK. What are the challenges linguistically? And, more importantly... what the forthcoming language testing changes will mean for overseas doctors and nurses (that is, both EU and non-EU doctors and nurses). I believe that EMP teaching will expand a lot in the next year and so it's wise for teachers and language schools to prepare for the changes.

A few important points came out of the presentations:
1. EMP communications have a safety aspect to them - accurate communication is essential for safe practice.

2. Teachers need to remember that they are not teaching content -their students will be trained in their field already. Teachers can make use of students' expertise through 'Share Your Knowledge' sessions.

3. Teachers have a background in teaching functional language already, it's just a matter of putting the communications in context. So, 'asking for information' is put in the context of 'Pre-assessing a patient' or 'Admitting a patient' or 'Patient Interview'

4. Role plays should be part of the core of the sessions as many of the communication examples require rehearsal to ensure confidence. For example, developing confidence in performing handovers or taking messages over the phone.

5. There are many online resources which help to develop an understanding of medical terminology.

The next FREE seminar will be held on 25 Feb at the Oxford English Centre www.oxfordenglish.co.uk/ . Please see registration details on this website under 'Courses'. Hope to see you there!

As an addendum- I have just finished my first book(let), ' English for Medical Purposes:the heart' which is available on my website http://www.e4nursingandhealthcare.com/buy-books.html. Activities include practice in medical terms and also a communication focus on a related nursing procedure or activity.

Teacher Training seminars starting in Wimbledon January 21

2012-01-12T22:44:00.000Z

Please go to my website and listen to the video about aspects of teacher training for English for Nurses
http://www.e4nursingandhealthcare.com/online-courses--workshops--online-journal-articles.html

Make your own activities using 'Tools for English'

2012-01-04T17:51:00.000Z

Try the 'Tools for English site www.toolsforenglish.com/ to make some quick activities as revision for your students. I made a gap fill and a jumbled word activity using part of a BBC Health article on alcohol and hypothermia. The gap fill activity automatically removes the 3rd, 7th or 12th word depending on level of difficulty. So, be aware of the layout of the article so the 7th word isn't 'a' or 'the'.

Here is the example of the activities I generated.

And then the answer sheet is easily generated.

If you like, a jumbled word activity can be made. This can be a timed activity - first one to untangle the words wins! Make sure to ask students to find the word which hasn't been jumbled.

(answer: coma)

tagxedo

2012-01-02T23:58:00.000Z

I must say thank you to William Burton for showing me this website www.tagxedo.com . Make up some word shapes on a theme..or better yet, get students to gather all the terms for a particular health topic and make their own tagxedo shape. Then, swap the shapes and see how many of your partner's terms you can find.
How many heart terms can you find in my heart?

Happy New Year - be kind to your liver

2012-01-01T13:24:00.000Z

During my Christmas blog I talked about excess. I came across an article today which talks about the opposite i.e dealing with excess. 'Detoxing in January is futile, says liver charity’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16354472
It‟s very handy article for students to read and find terms for the management of excess. It can also be used as a basis for patient education techniques. Patient education plays a big part in discharge planning as patients who have medications or post-op dressings explained do better when they return home.

I would use the article to:

1. Look at the expressions used to talk about cleansing, reducing intake and avoiding. These are the opposite of the expressions we looked at in a previous blog; "overdoing", "overconsumption" and "excessive"

2. Write a dialogue between a doctor or nurse giving advice to a patient before discharge on the best way to manage their health options.

3. Ask students to think of other health areas where these expressions could be used e.g diabetes, renal, cardiac, respiratory, gastro (IBS)

More able students could add the reasons for selecting a particular option. It could also be used as a practice of expressions using "if + conditional" e.g If you avoid alcohol once or twice a week, it will be better for your liver.

The expressions which are useful in talking about managing options:

It's better to...

It would be better to (do something) than to (do something else)

(add noun or gerund e.g Detoxing, Reducing your intake, Cutting down, Abstinence, Taking a break) is the best option

Expressions for giving reasons

(Something) is better than (something) because....

(Something) is a better option to take as ....

The article discusses options for improving liver health. The expressions can be divided into three subheadings. Ask students to place the expressions under the three headings:

1. Cleansing or detoxing

2. Reducing intake or taking a temporary break

3. Avoiding or abstinence

You can make a cloze of the expressions using the cloze generator on Hotpotatoes

Here are the expressions:

1. Cleansing or detoxing

to detox

to go on a detox for + (time) e.g to go on a detox for one month

to cleanse something of excess e.g to cleanse the liver of excess

detoxing = the process of removing toxins from the body

a one-hit attempt to do something = a quick fix : doing one thing in the hope of rectifying a problem

2. Reducing intake or taking a temporary break

to take a break from something e.g alcohol

to take a few days off something e.g take a few days off alcohol

to keep your intake of something down = to stay on a reduced intake of something

to cut down on something = to reduce the amount of something

3. Avoiding or abstinence

to give up + noun e.g give up alcohol

to stay off + noun e.g to stay off alcohol

abstinence (uncountable noun) a period of abstinence

to remain abstinent

Detoxing in January is futile, says liver charity

Taking a

regular weekly break from alcohol is preferable to a short, sharp detox

Giving up alcohol or going on a detox for one month is pointless, especially after the excesses of the festive season, says a liver charity.

Instead, the British Liver Trust says drinkers should make a decision to stay off alcohol for a few days every week throughout the whole year. Experts agree that a short period of complete abstinence will not improve liver health. A longer-term attitude to alcohol is more desirable, the charity said.

Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said that people tend to believe the hype about rejuvenating their liver by detoxing in January.

"People think they're virtuous with their health by embarking on a liver detox each January with the belief that they are cleansing their liver of excess following the festive break.

"Detoxing can lead to a false sense of security and feeds the idea that you can abuse your liver as much as you like." Dr Mark Wright Southampton General Hospital

"A one-hit, one-month attempt to achieve long-term liver health is not the way to approach it.

"You're better off making a resolution to take a few days off alcohol a week throughout the entire year than remaining abstinent for January only."

The thinking behind this approach is that total alcohol intake per person is kept down and the liver is given time to recover each week. Providing the liver has no lasting damage, it can repair itself very quickly, taking as little as 24 hours to go back to normal.

Dr Mark Wright, consultant hepatologist at Southampton General Hospital, said detoxing created its own problems.

"Detoxing for just a month in January is medically futile. It can lead to a false sense of security and feeds the idea that you can abuse your liver as much as you like and then sort everything else with a quick fix.

"It makes about as much sense as maxing out your credit cards and overdraft all year, then thinking you can fix it by just eating toast in January. The figures just don't stack up," said Dr Wright.

The British Liver Trust is launching a campaign called 'Love Your Liver' to encourage people to maintain a healthy liver. As part of the campaign, it also advises eating well and exercising regularly.

"If you are overweight you increase your risk of liver disease by three times if you drink alcohol too.

"Cutting down on your daily food indulgences and not overloading on sugary drinks will all help to optimise your liver function," the Trust's website says.

Teacher training programme information

2011-12-26T11:38:00.002Z

registration to Teacher Training seminars

2011-12-26T11:37:00.002Z

Teacher Training in EMP

2011-12-26T11:35:00.000Z

Predicting the content of an article or text

2011-12-22T11:17:00.000Z

As we are well into the festive season, I thought it might be interesting to look at the less joyous aspects of this part of the year. It’s a good opportunity for students to predict what the article following a catchy headline may be about. Despite the contents of the texts, I would like to wish all readers of my blog a happy season with their friends and families...and a safe time.

Look at the headlines of articles about the health consequences of the Christmas period. Then, match them to the corresponding articles.

The Headlines

'The "Merry Christmas Coronary" and "Happy New Year Heart Attack" Phenomenon'

Text _________

‘Stop Granny Dumping Now’

Text ____________

‘Festive Boozers Fill A&E On First 'Mad Friday'’

Text ___________

'Twas the night before Christmas’

Text __________

'Bust the myth- most suicides happen at Christmas'

Text ______________

The texts:

Text A:

Did you know that every year around Christmas 100′s of Grannies and Grandpas are dumped at hospital emergency departments and respite centres – by people who just can’t cope anymore; they are trying to juggle day to day stuff around their home, work and social lives AND give care and support to older, older family members. They are so desperate that they dump their granny or grandpa, sneak off for a break and (mostly) come back, pick them up and start all over again…

Text B:

The Friday before Christmas is meant to be the busiest time of the A&E year. Marco Ronchetti, a physiotherapist in A&E at Maidstone hospital in Kent, says: 'They are busy periods. One or two days before the Christmas holiday you get a build-up of patients, who want to sort things before they go away.

Text C:

Christmas may be a difficult time for some, however, there’s no evidence to suggest that suicides peak at this time. Several studies suggest suicides actually peak in warmer months.

Japanese research found the rate from 1979-94 was lowest before a holiday and highest after. A US study over 35 years found no increase before, during, or after holidays.

Studies in Finland and Hungary found suicides peaked in the autumn and summer.

Nonetheless, don’t let someone who is affected by depression be alone at Christmas.

Text D:

In 1999, my research group published a study that examined whether there are seasonable variations in cardiac mortality in a location where winter weather is mild—Los Angeles County, Calif.... When we plotted daily rates of death from ischemic heart disease in Los Angeles County during November, December, and January, we were struck by an increase in deaths starting around Thanksgiving, climbing through Christmas, peaking on New Year’s Day, and then falling, whereas daily minimum temperatures remained relatively flat during December and January. We postulated that this peak in cardiac deaths during the holidays might result from other factors, including the emotional stress of the holidays, overindulgence during the holiday season, or both.

Text E:

Accident and emergency departments across the country have been overrun with drunken revellers after one of the busiest party nights of the year.

The Friday before Christmas, or "Mad Friday" as it is known, is one of the most popular nights for office parties, but it leaves emergency staff struggling to deal with alcohol-related injuries and illnesses.

However, because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, a second "Mad Friday" is expected on December 23.

Around 40% of all A&E attendances are alcohol-related but those figures rise dramatically over the Christmas and New Year period.

Word Study: Talking about amounts

We use expressions like these to talk about:

1. small amounts which are not a major problem

an increase in .../ an increased +noun He’s showing an increase in the use of his inhaler

a slight increase in .. She’s got a slight increase in blood sugar levels

He’s taking slightly more + noun He’s taking slightly more painkillers than yesterday

2. an excess which is quite serious:

excessive (use of / intake of) She has an excessive intake of anti-depressants

the prefix ‘over-‘ overindulgence in sugary foods

overuse of laxatives

overconsumption of fat and sugar

overdo - he's overdoing it!

far too much + noun He’s using far too much Salbutamol.

3. an excess which is a medical or psychiatric condition

the suffix ‘-mania’ (nymphomania, kleptomania, dipsomania, copromania, phagomania )

addiction to + noun He has an addiction to alcohol which affects his ability to hold down a job.

addicted to + noun Unfortunately, she’s now addicted to the pain killers.

to have a + noun habit He’s got a gambling habit which has destroyed his family.

So, please try not to overdo it this season. Don't overindulge in the Christmas sherry or take in excessive amounts of turkey and stuffing!

Why does accent matter?

2011-12-15T11:33:00.000Z

International nurses will continue to fill a substantial part of the nursing shortage gap in many English-speaking countries so issues of comprehension and clear communication will be ongoing. According to Philip Xu et al (Speak for Success: A Pilot Intervention Study on Communication Competence of Post-Hire International Nurses http://digitalcommons.library.unlv.edu/nursing_fac_articles/71/)

‘The current nursing shortage in the United States, which started in 2001, is the longest on record. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has reported

that as many as 800,000 nurses are needed by 2020 (HRSA,

2002).’

The pilot study mentioned above:

“Speak for Success was a research study designed to test the effectiveness of an evidence-based, comprehensive communication training program for international nurses. A total of 79 registered nurses from two hospitals in southern Nevada participated in this quasi-experimental, two-phase study. Two interventions were included: a 10-week linguistics course focusing on phonology (pronunciation and accent reduction) by a certified speech pathologist and four workshops on the social and cultural aspects of communication conducted by intercultural communication experts. This study indicated that a short-term linguistic intervention was effective in reducing phonologic errors of international nurses regardless of gender, age, country of origin, or length of residency in the United States. For the second intervention, despite a tendency of improvement for some communication variables, differences in between-group and within-group comparisons were not significant, possibly because of the high level of acculturation among the sampled nurses as a result of living and working in the United States for an extended period of time. Implications

of the study findings for practice, policy, and research are discussed within the context of the national priority for patient safety.

Based on the findings, this paper argues that transitioning international nurses should be regarded as a regulatory issue and transition programs for international nurses should include training on language and communication competence.”

The rationale for accent modification in healthcare is described in Derra Huxley’s blog (http://www.accentreductionnow.com/) as follows:

‘Increasingly, large numbers of physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals practicing in the United States are graduates of foreign medical schools and speak English as their second language. Although these professionals are highly intelligent people, and may have excellent training and comprehension of English, their speech may be difficult for patients and co-workers to understand, due to a strong accent.

Some potential situations where mis-communication may occur are when:

making diagnoses
providing patients with instructions for taking prescriptions and follow-up care
giving directions to colleagues and staff
making presentations
building rapport with patients

When patients clearly understand health care providers, it fosters confidence in the practitioner, the treatment, and the institution. Additionally, because doctors are usually pressed for time during appointments, they may not have time to repeat themselves. If the patients did not understand what was said to them the first time, they may become frustrated and intimidated, so they stop trying to understand or to ask more questions. The patient may then make repeated calls to clarify information, utilizing more staff and physician time.

With clear communication, time is used efficiently.’

I would add these points:

· Unlear pronunciation can lead to poor communication with patients and colleagues leading to possible safety breaches (e.g medication errors)

· Unclear pronunciation can result in a healthcare worker being viewed as rude or uncaring through the interference of harsh or clipped sounds from their first language into English

· Speaking English with a particular accent can lead to assumptions that the speaker shares characteristics of a stereotype e.g ‘Well, we know what (insert race) are like!’

Accent modification is an area which is not often tackled in EMP courses. After doing a bit of internet research, I discovered that most of the accent modification programmes in the USA seem to be presented by SLTs (Speech and Language Therapists).

Specialised EMP materials do not seem to include adequate opportunity to practise pronunciation AND get feedback on accent issues. This is often time-consuming as it requires repetition of corrected sounds. Anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language will have stories of a helpful native-speaker correcting the mispronunciation of a word, especially if it leads to the word having a different meaning. In English, the classic example is ‘SHEET or SHIT’. Often, we give up and use an alternative word e.g ‘I’m going to change the bed linen’.

Using an alternative phrase is not always possible in the healthcare environment so accurate pronunciation is essential. Accent reduction to allow a healthcare worker to develop a rapport with a patient is vital in several of the more complex communication areas. Giving bad news about a poor prognosis, empathising with a traumatised patient or dealing with aggressive patients are some of the areas where easy comprehension of the healthcare worker’s accent is important. Without this, patients may become frustrated or even angry with the healthcare worker and consciously or subconsciously not value or even listen to information or advice.

I am working with a very interesting programme at the moment called Eyespeakpro. It allows students to practise words, phrases, rolepays and listening activities against the voice of the teacher. Any accent can be programmed in but on the demo the teacher speaks with an American accent and I speak with an Australian accent so I have not matched as well as I would have liked! Having said that, the programme is quite addictive and I found myself trying to mimic the teacher and improve my percentage score. The phonetics of the sounds I make and the sounds made by the teacher are shown so I can see where I may not be using the correct sound within a word. A colour code from red to green shows how well I did on each word. It is like the language lab sessions of the past but with the benefit that the student doesn’t have to wait until the teacher switches over to listen to him or her. The teacher is always listening and the student can relisten and practise over and over.

I’ve included a screen share (made using Jing) of the role play I did as an example.

Make your own surveys

2011-12-10T10:55:00.000Z

And yet another resource for teachers or students. This time from QuizSnack.
Use a survey before you start a topic to see how much your students already know. Students to practise reading and comprehension skills.
As before, I've tried it out with a survey on EMP.

EMP survey on Quizsnack

Make your own flashcards

2011-12-10T10:25:00.000Z

Another fantastic site for teachers and students alike - http://quizlet.com/ Quizlet.
Here you can make your own flashcards which are automatically enabled with audio (!) and automatically generate a series of tests (short answer, matching, multiple choice). I made a test quiz called 'Using Flascards in EMP' . Have a try and see what you think. I see the applications as follows:

teachers use flashcards to revise vocab from the previous week or a particular section (e.g cardio)
students make up flashcards to help memorise new terms
the audio is a great help in pronunciation

EMP Flashcards

e4nursingandhealthcare.weebly.com

2011-12-09T13:40:00.001Z

Decided to involve myself in a learning curve (with all the free time I have! ha!). Anyway, I have started to set up a website at
http://e4nursingandhealthcare.weebly.com/#/

I have posted a first blog and started a forum. As I say, a learning curve but would welcome comments.

Word of the week: synaesthesia

2011-12-05T17:17:00.000Z

prefix or suffix	meaning
a-	without or lacking
-aesthesia	sensation or feeling
bio-	life
-dactylia	condition of the toes or feet
-osis	condition
-physis	growth
syn- (or sym-)	together, united or at the same time

Activity 1: Match the terms 1-5 with the correct meaning a-e using the definitions in the table above to help you.

1) symbiosis	a) drugs given to a patient during an operation so they do not feel pain
2) symphysis	b) webbing of the fingers usually with skin
3) syndactyly	c) abnormal sensitivity
4) anaesthesia	d) close relationship which may create a dependence on one person.
5) hyperaesthesia	e) type of joint which is joined by fibrous cartillage

The following excerpt comes from an article called ‘What phantom limbs and mirrors teach us about the brain’ by Stephanie Hegarty (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15938103) . Read the article (and test yourself for the condition of synaesthesia). Do you have it? I suspected that I did and, sure enough, I do!

Activity 2: Identify the words which describe feelings and define them

Activity 3: What is the difference between ‘colour synaesthesia’ and ‘colour blindness’ ?

What do you see?

Since 1999 Ramachandran has been exploring the connections between brain modules through a condition called synaesthesia.

Synaesthetes experience a blending of their sensations - they taste letters, hear shapes or see numbers as colours. It affects 2-4% of people, is hereditary and eight times more common among artists and creative people.

Ramachandran suggests that synaesthetes have a higher number of connections between modules in the brain that process sensations such as colour and sound. He believes the condition holds clues to unravelling the mysteries of human capacity for language, creativity and abstract thought.

Do you have synaesthesia? Try and pick out the twos in this sea of fives. Number-colour synaesthetes will see the twos pop out while normal people have to look at each figure individually to tell them apart.

Renal Calculus: answers

2011-12-05T16:30:00.002Z

Activity 1: Find the terms with meanings a-h from the article ‘Renal Colic’

terms	meaning
1. dysuria	a) burning sensation when urinating
2. colic	b) spasm-like pain
3. obstructs	c) gets stuck in
4. nausea	d) sick feeling
5. frequency	e) feeling that there is a need to urinate more often
6. pyrexia	f) high temperature
7. offensive	g) smelly
8. haematuria	h) blood in the urine

Activity 2:

1) horn-shaped

2) cystine

3) resemble grains

4) resemble crystals

Recent studies on coffee consumption make great class-room resources

2011-12-01T10:44:00.000Z

I listened to another piece on the effects of coffee consumption on the radio this morning and wondered how I would use the article (found online) as a classroom activity. As is often the case with medical studies, there was a seemingly conflicting article about coffee consumption on BBC News four days earlier. As I read the articles, a few comparison activities came to mind.

Before students read the articles, I’d ask them to predict:

1. Are the articles discussing the same topic? ( answer: both articles are about coffee consumption, but article 1 concerns pregnant women, article 2 concerns women in general- no mention whether any of the women were pregnant at the time)

2. Were the studies conducted by reputable organisations? (answer: yes. Both reputable universities)

3. Do we know if the people involved in conducting the studies had any affiliations with the coffee industry? Where could we find this information? (answer: we don’t know from the online news article so would go to an abstract of the study where affiliations must be identified)

Now, ask students to read both articles and complete a comparison table as in the example below.

Review the language they may need to compare the two articles. Some of the expressions they could use are:

· Article 1 says.... while article 2 says...

· Article 1.....,however, article 2....

· Whilst article 1....., article 2.....

· On the one hand, article 1 seems to be....... On the other hand, article 2...

· Despite appearing to be about the same topic,.....

· Article 1...., but article 2....

· Compared with article 1, article 2 gives more information about.....

· Article 1 is similar to / not similar to article 2 in that....

	Article 1	Article 2
Study undertaken by	Glasgow University researchers	Harvard Medical School study
length of study	probably very short as study tested espressos from 20 high street coffee shops possibly on the same day	10 years
Topic	risk of excessive caffeine on pregnant woman	women who drink 2-3+ cups of coffee per day less likely to be depressed than women who drink < 0-1 cups of coffee per week
recommended dose	200mg caffeine per day for pregnant women	No daily recommended dose mentioned 2-3+ cups per day →15% less depression than consumers of <2-3 cups per day
metabolism of caffeine	slower in pregnant women and people with liver disease	no information about metabolism information about blocking pathways in the brain
physical and psychological effects	may result in miscarriage or delivery of a low birth weight baby	In people who consume 2-3+ cups per day · stimulant: can → insomnia, anxiety · blocks adenosine → enhanced feeling of well-being · lower risk of obesity, diabetes and hypertension · lower risk of depression and suicide
social effects	no information	regular coffee drinkers more likely to smoke and drink

Now, ask students to discuss the following questions in small groups:

1. Do the studies have similar findings? Compare both articles

2. What does this mean for you as you research topics for assignments (answer: must be careful to check the validity of studies, must be aware that studies may appear to be on the same topic but be about a different aspect)

3. Would you use both these articles if you were writing about the affects of caffeine on a person’s general health? (answer: yes but you would have to explain the area of health you were using the study to support e.g women’s health during pregnancy, health of a person with existing depression or without depression)

Here are the articles:

Article 1: Coffee shop caffeine levels 'vary widely'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15968515

01 December 11 04:33

By Eleanor Bradford
BBC Scotland Health Correspondent

High Street coffee shops could pose a risk to pregnant women because of big variations in the amount of caffeine in each cup, research suggests.

Analysis of espresso coffee from 20 shops found that one was six times stronger than others.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says too much caffeine can result in miscarriage or a low birth weight.

Researchers from Glasgow University tested caffeine levels in espressos bought from High Street coffee shops.

The FSA currently advises pregnant women to consume no more than 200mg of caffeine a day, based on an assumption that an espresso contains about 50mg of caffeine.

The work was led by Alan Crozier, senior research fellow in the faculty of medicine.

"The analysis that we did showed the amount of caffeine ranged from 50mg per cup from Starbucks, up to over 300mg per cup from another coffee house, Patisserie Francoise," he said. "I was very surprised by this."

Drinking just one of the strongest cups of coffee would more than exceed the "safe" level for pregnant women.

"If you go to different coffee houses you can tell that some are much stronger than others," Mr Crozier said.

"The problem comes with people who should have a limited caffeine intake.

"You metabolise caffeine much more slowly when you're pregnant and people with liver disease do not have the enzymes to metabolise caffeine.

"Our data shows that you can have the recommended amount - and more - from just one shot of espresso."

The researchers point out that despite the increasing number of coffee shops on the High Street there is no information about the caffeine contents of various types of coffee.

They add that, although they only tested espresso coffees, many other types of drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos are prepared using single or double shots of espresso.

The study has been published in the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal Food and Function.

Article 2:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/health-15059266

Coffee may prevent depression, scientists say

27 September 11 00:59

By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News

Women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day are less likely to get depressed, research suggests.

It is not clear why it might have this effect, but the authors believe caffeine in coffee may alter the brain's chemistry. Decaffeinated coffee did not have the same effect.

The findings, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, come from a study of more than 50,000 US female nurses.

The experts are now recommending more work to better understand the link.

And they say it is certainly too soon to start recommending that women should drink more coffee to boost mood.

Caffeine lift

The Harvard Medical School team tracked the health of the women over a decade from 1996 to 2006 and relied on questionnaires to record their coffee consumption.

Just over 2,600 of the women developed depression over this time period.

More of these women tended to be non- or low-coffee drinkers rather than frequent coffee consumers.

Compared with women who drank one cup of caffeinated coffee or less per week, those who consumed two to three cups per day had a 15% decreased risk of developing depression.

Those who drank four or more cups a day cut their risk by 20%.

Regular coffee drinkers were more likely to smoke and drink alcohol and were less likely to be involved in church, volunteer or community groups. They were also less likely to be overweight and have high blood pressure or diabetes.

Even after controlling for all of these variables, the trend of increasing coffee consumption and lower depression remained.

Mounting evidence

The researchers say their findings add weight to the work of others which found lower suicide rates among coffee drinkers.

They suspect caffeine is the key player - it is known to enhance feelings of wellbeing and energy.

And it has a physical effect on brain function and transmission by altering chemical pathways, like those involving adenosine. But more research is needed to show if this might mean it is useful for warding off depression.

Alternatively, it might be that people with low moods chose not to drink coffee because it contained caffeine, point out the researchers. One of the common symptoms of depression is disturbed sleep, and caffeine can exacerbate this because it is a stimulant.

Too much caffeine can also increase feelings of anxiety.

Prof Bertil Fredholm, an expert in pharmacology and physiology at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, said the findings were reassuring for coffee-lovers.

"This fits nicely with a lot of the previous work and what we know about caffeine and the brain. It blocks adenosine, which produces a similar effect to increasing dopamine production. And it's becoming increasingly clear that the dopamine-rich areas of the brain are much more important in depression than previously thought.

"Despite valiant efforts to show how dangerous coffee is for us, it is not proving so.

"This removes yet another anxiety regarding caffeine use. Drunk in moderation, the evidence is strong that it is not one of the things we do that is going to damage your health."

Insider Medicine

2011-11-28T12:13:00.000Z

Insider Medicine - http://www.insidermedicine.ca/ is a great website which has a few sections which are very useful for teachers and students. Firstly, go to 'In Depth' and scroll through the description of the videos available. Click on the title of the video you are interested in. Watch the short video and read the text below. The texts are short and easy to read (especially if you register on the site as a Student) .

'In the Spotlight' section allows you to view videos on medical topics .The video which I watched was about islet cell transplantation for diabetes control. The video has a short survey to the right of the video screen which is also good practice in answering questions. The video is not only interesting but also about cutting edge treatment. There are two English accents to listen for (one Canadian, one Scottish) which is also valuable practice.

Teachers can prepare a worksheet around the lisening activity. In this case, include:
1. a review of medical terminology relating to the pancreas including any acronyms or abbreviations e.g beta cells, autoimmunity, islet cells, alpha cells, paracrine, insulin, glucose, portal vein
2. perhaps a gap-fill activity which explains the process of islet cell tranplantation
3. a short answer activity: Which patients will do well on islet cell transplantation?

The 'If I had' section has a list of symptoms and diseases with related videos. Watch the videos and complete a worksheet (one your teacher has given you or one you have developed yourself) . Summarize the video under headings. I watched the 'Hives' video - there are key words at the side of the video which will help you. Make a list of the medical terms used in the video as you hear them e.g urticaria. Then complete information under these headings:
1. Symptoms (how does it present)
2. Cause of the disease including past history
3. Treatment of mild and severe reactions
4. Tests -physical examination, lab tests
5. Advice to patients - medication used

You can use these headings to review other diseases and conditions.

Using Brainshark presentations

2011-11-27T11:22:00.002Z

The link to my brainshark presentation is http://my.brainshark.com/Using-brainshark-to-keep-in-touch-with-your-521719369

Brainshark

2011-11-27T11:21:00.000Z

Yesterday I finally had a look at the Brainshark website after a recommendation and made an attempt at making a dynamic Powerpoint Presentation, called 'Using Brainshark to keep in touch with your online students'. (link above) . Online or distance education options have much to recommend them especially for healthcare professionals who are trying to improve their language skills at the same time as working long hours and shift work. And, online course options are often more cost-effective. The down-side of these methods is the lack of listening practice and perhaps the lack of contact with a 'real teacher'. I often like to watch youtube videos of presentations or seminars to listen to the speaker for that extra dimension - the non-verbal aspect of communication.

The ability to pronounce medical terms during the presentation is another bonus as it is often difficult to manage the pronunciation of multi-syllable Latin or Greek-based medical terms on your own! I plan to use this option in the future and would welcome your feedback of my practice run.