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Jobs in Healthcare

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The healing

Jobs in healThcare

Every hospital has two main parts: an outpatient department and an inpatient department . The outpatient department is usually on the ground floor of the main building or in a separate building. It contains hospital records and waiting rooms. The inpatient department, located in the main building, is composed of wards or units where patients are admitted for treatment . A ward usually consists of rooms for patients, a day room , an admission room , a treatment room, sister’s room, small laboratory, and bathrooms.

Hospitals might not be the most attractive places to spend time; nevertheless they are essential institutions in every society. Here, doctors save people’s lives, treat the sick and deliver babies. The organization of hospitals and the hierarchy of different jobs can be complicated. This article will provide you with some basic hospital vocabulary.

Medical professions

Patients are usually sent to the hospital by their general practitioner or family doctor. If they must stay in the hospital for further treatment, they become inpatients in one of the many hospital wards. Each ward falls under the responsibility of a ward sister . A ward sister is a senior position for a registered, experienced nurse with three years of training. Staff nurses, the first post

touch

for all newly qualified registered nurses, assist the ward sister. The rest of the nursing staff is made up of untrained nursing assistants called auxiliary or practical nurses. The ward sister is responsible for their training. They learn things such as bed‑making, washing patients, bedpan rounds , giving medicine and managing transfusions.

There may be over twenty wards or units in a typical hospital. Each of these falls under the supervision of a head physician who is usually a consultant, a specialist in their field. In addition, the various wards will have trainee doctors or interns working at the hospital to get further practical experience, as well as registrars or residents, doctors who already have experience in their chosen speciality.

Technologists and technicians play important roles in assisting doctors to make correct diagnoses and perform certain therapies. For example, an occupational therapist will help you get better after an illness or injury by giving you special

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activities. Laboratory technicians get to examine various samples taken from patients

– everything from blood to stools.

hospiTal deparTMenTs

Surgery is the branch of medicine that treats disease or injury by operative measures . The doctor performing the operation is known as a surgeon. Operations are classified as emergency, essential and elective . Hospitals have emergency departments where operations must take place with minimal delay in order to save patients’ lives. Examples are appendicitis and motor car accidents. Essential operations are performed to remove a threat to the life of the patient, but an operation does not have to take place immediately. Elective operations are those which the patient has chosen to have to improve their comfort or health. A hospital may have a plastic surgery unit for cosmetic operations. Operations take place in an operating theatre where everything must be hygienic, counted and checked. Operating theatre staff must be fit and well – at the first sign of an infection they are excluded from duty. General anaesthetics are given for surgical procedures to depress the patient’s central nervous system . They are administered by an anaesthetist. Following a serious operation, most patients will be placed in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) where specially trained personnel provide immediate and continuous treatment and monitoring.

Oncology is the scientific study of tumours , which takes up much of an

oncologist’s time. Many hospitals have a cancer centre to take care of such patients. Cancer is particularly dangerous because malignant cells are able to metastasize (spread) throughout the body by way of the bloodstream or lymphatic vessels . Pathologists examine cancer cells under a microscope to grade them. Possible treatment may include a trip to radiology where a radiologist will administer the optimal dose of ionizing radiation to destroy the tumour.

If you have problems with your bones, you may be sent to visit a bone doctor or orthopaedist at the hospital’s orthopaedic services unit. The word “orthopaedics”

is taken from “ortho” meaning straight and “pedo” meaning child because it was originally intended to cover only childhood disorders but now includes bone problems at all ages. Other important hospital wards include cardiology where a cardiologist will examine you if you have problems with your heart, gastroenterology if you have problems with your stomach or intestines, including perhaps a consultation with a dietician who has extensive knowledge of the basic foods, or paediatrics to see a paediatrician who is concerned with the care and development of children and the treatment of diseases that affect them. Many hospitals also have OB/GYN wards with specialized doctors called gynaecologists who deal with disorders of the female reproductive system and obstetricians who deal with the birth of children.

Hospitals tend to be very large, confusing and even daunting places, but they are filled with highly trained professionals who are there to take care of us when we are not well. As a career, working in a hospital may be stressful and exhausting at times, but it is also an exciting and responsible job that provides you with the opportunity to help others and save peoples’ lives.

Hana Škrdlová (Canada)

What do the following doctors specialize in: a urologist and an E-N-T doctor?

TasK

Solution on p. 3

Vocabulary

hospital records [“rEkO;dz] - nemocniční záznamy ward [wO;d] - oddělení

day room - společenská místnost admission room - příjem ward sister - staniční sestra bedpan rounds [bEdp&n raUndz] - obcházení pacientů s ložní mísou

head physician [fI”zIS(@)n] - primář make correct diagnoses [“daI@gn@UzI:z] - správně diagnostikují, určují správné diagnózy

occupational therapist - pracovní terapeut, ergoterapeut stool [stu;l] - stolice

emergency, essential and elective [I”m@;dZ(@)nsi I”sEnS(@)l I”lEktIv] - naléhavé, základní a výběrové (elektivní) appendicitis [@pEndI”saItIs] - zánět slepého střeva

to remove a threat to life [rI”mu;v TrEt] - odstranit něco, co ohrožuje život operating theatre [“Qp@reItIN “TI@t@] - operační sál

anaesthetics [&nIs”TEtIks] - anestetika to depress the patient’s central nervous system [dI”prEs] - snížit činnost pacientovy nervové soustavy

are administered by [@d”mInIst@d] - jsou podávány

intensive care unit - jednotka intenzivní pěče

continuous - nepřetržitý oncology [QN”kQl@dZi] - onkologie

metastasize [mI”t&st@saiz] - metastázovat by the way of bloodstream and lymphatic vessels [“blVdstri;m lIm”f&tIk

“vEs(@)lz] - krevním oběhem a lymfatickými cévami pathologist [p@“TQl@dZIst] - patolog

radiology [reIdI”Ql@dZi] - radiologie optimal doze of ionizing radiation

[“QptIm(@)l d@Uz “aI@naIzIN reIdI”eIS(@)n] - optimální dávka ionizačního záření

orthopaedist [O;T@“pi;dIst] - ortopéd childhood disorder [dIs”O;d@] - porucha u dětí

cardiology [kA;dI”Ql@dZi] - kardiologie gastroenterology [%g&str@UEnt@“rQl@dZi] - gastroenterologie

dietician [daI@“tIS(@)n] - dietetik paediatrics [pi;dI”&trIks] - pediatrie gynaecologist [gaInI”kQl@dZist] -

gynekolog

obstetrician [Qbst@“trIS(@)n] - porodník

Glossary

head physician - a head of a particular ward

registrar (BrE) - a doctor working in a British hospital who is training to become a specialist in a particular area of medicine

resident (AmE) - a doctor working in a hospital in the US who is receiving special advanced training

intern or interne (AmE) - an advanced student of medicine, whose training is nearly finished, or a graduate who is working in a hospital to get further practical experience

trainee doctor (BrE) - a medical student working in a hospital under supervision of a senior doctor in order to increase one’s qualifications

ward sister (BrE) - a senior nurse who is in charge of a hospital ward; this medical term uses the word “sister” instead of a “nurse”

registered nurse (AmE) - a nurse who has a degree in nursing and who has passed an exam to be allowed to work in a particular state

(BrE) a nurse who has an official qualification (SRN = State Registered Nurse)

staff nurse (BrE) - a qualified hospital nurse

practical nurse (AmE) - a nurse with practical experience but less training than a registered nurse

Zdroj: MATURITA HADR/ANJ/Témata/Témata/Health/Jobs in Healthcare/29_jobs_in_healthcare.pdf