Medical conversation dictionary - French/English

5,000 bilingual phrases designed to facilitate the dialogue between health professionals and the patients, despite the language barrier. In hospitals, clinics, and medical centers it is common to receive for consultation or care ill foreigners who do not speak or who do not understand English.

Doctors, nurses, and nurse aids must be able to communicate verbally with these people, reply to their questions, understand their needs and establish a relationship of confidence.

In the same way, patients in the process of consultation or who are hospitalised must at the same time understand what the medical staff tell them regarding their health and be able to interrogate medical staff in order to obtain explanations.

For a good reception of patients a comprehension between speakers is necessary. The language barrier can be an obstacle to quality care. Indeed, when the people cared for have difficulties in expressing themselves and being understood, it is sometimes difficult to reply optimally to their questions and needs. Among the difficulties in communicating with patients, there are difficulties with responding to pain as well as difficulties in explaining and making patients understand the procedures that they must undertake, to explain the progression of the illness as well as the aim of treatments.

The language barrier is thus present in all care services and health professionals must regularly work with people who speak different languages. The reception of these patients remains complex but it must be of an acceptable quality.

In France, us English, Americans or Australians may be taken to consult a French doctor or be hospitalised.

This dictionary which proposes 5,000 bilingual medical phrases arranged in alphabetical order will establish better communication between patients of French origin and an English caretaker and vice versa.