Result: Medical IELTS: A Workbook for International Doctors and PLAB Candidates

The native English speaker, particularly if monolingual, should be thoroughly humbled by the awesome task which faces many potential colleagues from overseas in acquiring sufficient English language skills to work in the NHS. Not only is good standard and technical English required to function at all in the medical field, but also a working knowledge of idiomatic language is essential to work proficiently. This excellent book is designed as a workbook to help prospective international medical graduates and other healthcare workers do just that and is aimed at those studying for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) examinations in particular. It is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the specifics of vocabulary and language use in the clinical setting and the second written for students sitting the examinations, exploring points of grammar and vocabulary which might be expected in the various papers. These are preceded by an explanation of how to use the book to best advantage, including suggestions for ways to augment vocabulary. The first part of the book is a comprehensive guide to current language and vocabulary as used in the medical setting. It begins with general chapters on communicating with patients and taking a history, suggesting the most colloquial and succinct ways of posing a question to elicit a useful and accurate response from the patient. Within the history-taking chapter, there is useful information on what occupations like ‘being in HR’ involve or what a ‘chippy’ does for a living. Interestingly, it requires four full pages to cover all the terms for alcohol and drug consumption, while exercise needs only a paragraph and includes the term ‘couch potato’. The subsequent chapters within this first section deal with the various systems of the body and include ways in which patients describe their symptoms, how these should be understood by the doctor and ways in which the technical language of medicine can be translated into everyday English for the patient. The emphasis is on the importance of two-way communication between patient and doctor with the patient needing to understand what the doctor is talking about just as much as the doctor needs to understand the patient. This whole section provides a very useful guide to current language usage in the medical context and would be an invaluable reference book for the puzzled physician to have at hand in the clinic. The only criticism is the lack of an index where one might easily discover, for example, the meaning of ‘popping your clogs’ or ‘brewer's droop’ without having to trawl through the entire book to do so. The second and larger part of the book is a presentation in workbook form of particular language points, topics and vocabulary which might be faced by the candidate facing the IELTS or PLAB examinations. It takes the form of short chapters on a grammatical point (e.g. confusing words and false friends) or a theme (e.g. politics) and requires very specific answers to be given to the questions posed, often from lists provided. It provides the student with a comprehensive coverage of grammar and vocabulary and requires considerable attention to detail. Answers are provided at the back of the book. This book is highly recommended for international doctors as an accessible and clear guide to current English usage. It is very readable, well organised and could be used by both examination candidates as a workbook and by practising doctors as a reference guide to the innumerable idioms and colloquial expressions with which their patients may bombard them in the clinic.