What level of English is expected from doctors?

[Dr panda]

Hi everyone. So, I have been living in the US for few years and learned English from scratch, I feel very comfortable at school, work, and just my daily routine (besides some pop culture and sport jokes). However, when it comes to reading this forum (especially posts by people in their 50s-60s) I feel that I will never be able to speak like that, I understand the meaning but I would never word anything that way.
Since medicine is all about interaction with other people and Doctors are viewed as highly educated individuals (because they are), what level of mastery is expected especially when it comes to interviews at medical schools?
Another issue that I have is when I am nervous I confuse articles (because my own language doesn’t have them), which is obviously a deal breaker when it comes to medical schools’ interview process. Any advises?
Thanks

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[CoitusInterruptus]

tbh, medicine requires strong fluency in English to practice Western medicine, which is dominated by the English language. If you look at the Nobel prize by country, you will know this is true.

Doctors are supposed to clearly articulate the risks of a procedure or treatment, which requires strong communication skills. underpinning is facility with language.

 

[Dr panda]

tbh, medicine requires strong fluency in English to practice Western medicine, which is dominated by the English language. If you look at the Nobel prize by country, you will know this is true.

Doctors are supposed to clearly articulate the risks of a procedure or treatment, which requires strong communication skills. underpinning is facility with language.

Hi, thank you for the input. The problem Is not in the ability to explain, rather the way it will be worded.
Think like:
“This procedure may cause pain in your chest due to side effects of the medication being used” vs some complex sentence that includes rare words or analogies with some old jokes that only native speakers could understand.

 

[jambro]

Well, assuming you didn’t have trouble writing your post, it looks to me like you have perfectly good English skills. and patients don’t want a pretentious doc who uses esoteric language anyway!

plus, plenty of Doctors have extremely strong accents and it doesn’t seem to hurt them...

 

[DrStephenStrange]

Hi everyone. So, I have been living in the US for few years and learned English from scratch, I feel very comfortable at school, work, and just my daily routine (besides some pop culture and sport jokes). However, when it comes to reading this forum (especially posts by people in their 50s-60s) I feel that I will never be able to speak like that, I understand the meaning but I would never word anything that way.
Since medicine is all about interaction with other people and Doctors are viewed as highly educated individuals (because they are), what level of mastery is expected especially when it comes to interviews at medical schools?
Another issue that I have is when I am nervous I confuse articles (because my own language doesn’t have them), which is obviously a deal breaker when it comes to medical schools’ interview process. Any advises?
Thanks

Hey, I'm a 2nd year med student that also had to learn English from scratch, I haven't had no major problem communication wise in medical school so far. I've been living in the US for 8 years now, and I still don't get some pop culture references and/or anything related to American Football. Even now, I struggle sometimes to fine the right words to express myself exactly the way I want to, but I always fine a way to get my message across the room. Although I've managed to perform well in undergrad (3.7 GPA), I also had to take MCAT multiple times before getting in med school because for the most part my reading and comprehension speed wasn't on par with native English speakers that spent all their lives perfecting just one language. That was 4 years ago, and now I feel like my communication skill is a lot better, and sometimes people can't even believe that English is my second language when I tell then where I'm from.

I don't know how long you've been living in the US, but my bet is you'll be fine as long you can at least communicate and understand basic English. You will get more fluent as the years pass and start accumulating more vocabulary. I mean getting fluent in English is one thing, but you really won't learn the language of medicine till you're in medical school. It's like its own language. For now, focus on perfecting your basic communication skills by getting involved with others that speaks fluently and also by watching lots and lots of TV.

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[ciestar]

Take this as you will, but your board exam (PE or CS depending on what route you take) do score you on your english proficiency. Mixing up a few articles isn’t honestly a big deal. The big deal is if people don’t understand what you’re saying when you talk to them. If you can carry a conversation and explain things to patients in layman’s terms, you’re fine.

 

[Rachapkis]

Hi everyone. So, I have been living in the US for few years and learned English from scratch, I feel very comfortable at school, work, and just my daily routine (besides some pop culture and sport jokes). However, when it comes to reading this forum (especially posts by people in their 50s-60s) I feel that I will never be able to speak like that, I understand the meaning but I would never word anything that way.
Since medicine is all about interaction with other people and Doctors are viewed as highly educated individuals (because they are), what level of mastery is expected especially when it comes to interviews at medical schools?
Another issue that I have is when I am nervous I confuse articles (because my own language doesn’t have them), which is obviously a deal breaker when it comes to medical schools’ interview process. Any advises?
Thanks

Doctors need to be able to communicate medical concepts to patients and their co-workers. However, assuming that you speak similarly to the way you write, you should not have a problem. Doctors do not need to speak like an English PhD from Harvard (though some may); they merely need to be able to convey the relevant information in an understandable fashion. Have faith in your abilities and become the best doctor you can be.

 

[ScreamingInternally]

Just to reiterate what's already being said here: your writing skills are very good, so if you speak the same way you write, you're golden. If you find that you have a very thick accent to the point where people have difficulty understanding you, I would say that's something you could definitely work on (there are classes/coaches specifically for this) but if you're able to carry a decent conversation with someone unfamiliar with you (someone who is not used to the way you speak), again, you should be fine.

CS will score you on your English, and that exam is becoming a bit harder to pass as time goes on, but it's certainly not impossible for people with English as their second language. I would say keep working on strengthening your app. for med school and beyond and worry about the language part later.

Docs are mostly used to working with peers from other countries as well as treating patients with accent/language barriers, so they should be able to understand you as well. Also, when you speak to docs you're speaking medical jargon so it's a language of its own which you'll pick up along the way.

When speaking with patients on the other hand, you should be using the most basic wording possible. Philadelphia, for instance, has a population of roughly 1.6 million and roughly half of that is estimated to be functionally illiterate or have a very low reading comprehension level - that's not to say they don't speak/understand English, it's just to show that a lot can get lost on the general population when you try to explain in medical jargon.

 

[theKingLT]

Language skills are developed in specific contexts. You will develop clinical language skills the more time you spend in those contexts. Biggest hurdle for non-native speakers entering medicine tends to be the MCAT.

Based on my experiences in foreign languages, one of the biggest long-term challenges is mastering comprehension of all the different accents and vocabulary ranges. You could be extremely comfortable among your largely upper and middle class peers, but then see a patient from a poor inner city area or rural Missouri and suddenly not understand half the words the my say. I find stand up comedy to be one of the best ways to gain exposure to a variety of accents and vocabulary, just be careful about emulating cuss words of course

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[Catalystik]

I have been living in the US for few years and learned English from scratch, I feel very comfortable at school, work, and just my daily routine (besides some pop culture and sport jokes).

I've been living in the US for 8 years now, and I still don't get some pop culture references and/or anything related to American Football.

I've been in the US all my life and I don't "get" sport references either, or the words to rap songs.

 

[Cornfed101]

Tell your friends to correct you. When I was learning a second language I told people to correct me when I was wrong and it helps you improve very quickly. A lot of times people will let things slide because it's polite, that's why you have to specifically ask for correction. I had a friend who moved to the states to go to undergrad and didn't speak any English. I met him a few years later and he spoke PERFECT English. He said it was because people made fun of his accent, so he fixed it. Sad, but it worked.

 

[Dr panda]

Thank you everyone!