Everyday English for International Nurses: A Guide to Working in the UK

248 Pages·2004·0.84 MB·English

by  Joy Parkinson BA

C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page i
Everyday English for International Nurses
A guide to working in the UK
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page ii
For Churchill Livingstone:
Commissioning Editor: Ninette Premdas
Development Editor: Kim Benson
Project Manager: Darren Smith
Design: Erik Bigland
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page iii
Everyday English for
International Nurses
A guide to working in the UK
Joy Parkinson BA
Author and Lecturer, London, UK
Chris Brooker BSc, MSc, RGN, SCM, RNT
Author and Lecturer, Norfolk, UK
EDINBURGH LONDON NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA SAN FRANCISCO SYDNEY
TORONTO 2004
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page iv
CHURCHILL LIVINGSTONE
An imprint of Elsevier Limited
© 2004, Elsevier Limited. All rights reserved.
First published 2004
The right of Joy Parkinson and Chris Brooker to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the
prior permission of the publishers or a licence permitting restricted
copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK.
Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier's Health Sciences
Rights Department in Philadelphia, USA: ([phone],
fax:[phone], e-mail: [email protected]. You
may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier Science
homepage (http://www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’
and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’.
ISBN 0 443 07399 6
British Library of Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Note
Medical knowledge is constantly changing. As new information
becomes available, changes in treatment, procedures, equipment and
the use of drugs become necessary. The authors/contributors and the
publishers have taken care to ensure that the information given in this
text is accurate and up to date. However, readers are strongly advised
to confirm that the information, especially with regard to drug usage,
complies with current legislation and standards of practice.
Printed in China
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page v
Preface
This book is designed to help the large numbers of overseas nurs-
es who have chosen to practise in the UK. The content has been
adapted from the Manual of English for the Overseas Doctor, by
Joy Parkinson. The result is a book with a uniquely nursing focus.
It can be a daunting prospect for anyone to move to another
country to nurse; not only must you become familiar with the
organisation and regulation of nursing, but you need to learn how
English is spoken by people in everyday situations. The language
spoken by clients, patients and their families in the UK is vastly
different from that used overseas. Hence a large part of the book
is concerned with the vocabulary and language used in the
nurse–patient relationship.
The first three chapters provide information about nursing in
the UK, the nursing process, professional organisations and trade
unions, registering as a nurse, adaptation programmes and career
development, and the structure of the National Health Service
and Social Services.
Chapter 4 focuses on documentation and record keeping that
are vital to good practice. This chapter also deals with written
communication in the form of letters and e-mail.
Communication in nursing is covered in Chapter 5. This
includes taking a nursing history and many case-history dialogues.
The case histories are based on the Activities of Living Model of
Nursing and provide examples of dialogue between nurses and
patients or relatives in a wide range of situations.
Chapters 6 to 8 deal with the language of spoken English (col-
loquial English, idioms and phrasal verbs). This material is based
on the book for doctors, but it has been completely updated for
the 21st century.
v
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page vi
PREFACE
The last three chapters provide you with more useful informa-
tion–abbreviations used in nursing, useful addresses and web
sources, and units of measurement.
Further reading suggestions and references are included in the
chapters, and a general list of further reading is provided at the
end of the book.
We hope that this new book will be of great help to you during
your nursing career in the UK.
Joy Parkinson and Chris Brooker London and Norfolk 2004
vi
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page vii
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank their families and colleagues for
their support and help.
Thanks to Gosia Brykczynska who wrote the first three chapters.
Thanks also to Annie Jennings, RGN, and Andrew Jennings,
MB, FRCS(Urol), for their help in updating the colloquial language,
to Kirsten and Stuart Dallas who offered help with one of the case
histories, and to all the staff at Elsevier who were involved in the
book – in particular, Ninette Premdas and Kim Benson for their
support and enthusiasm throughout the project.
vii
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page viii
Contributor
Gosia Brykczynska PhD, RGN/RSCN, RNT, CertEd,Refugee Nurse
Project Officer, Royal College of Nursing, London, UK (Chs 1, 2
and 3).
C3996_00.qxd 26/02/2004 13:42 Page ix
Contents
1. Nursing in the UK 1
2. Registering as a nurse in the UK and career
development 13
3. The National Health Service and Social Services 25
4. Nursing documentation, record keeping and written
communication 37
5. Communication in nursing 51
6. Colloquial English 123
7. Idioms: parts of the body 141
8. Phrasal verbs 169
9. Abbreviations used in nursing 193
10. Useful addresses and web sources 211
11. Units of measurement 223
General further reading suggestions 231
Index 233
ix