Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 164.
Seeing a Specialist You're listening to English as a Second Language podcast number 164.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, in the beautiful state of California, here in the United States.
On today's podcast, we are going to the doctor to see a specialist.
Let's go.
I went to see my doctor because I had a nagging pain in my leg.
After he examined me and did some routine tests, he suggested that I go see a specialist.
I made an appointment with Dr. Slope.
Good morning.
How are you today?
I'm fine, Dr. Slope.
My GP, Dr. Harding, referred me to you.
He thought that you might be able to diagnose the problem with my leg.
Well, let's take a look.
Hmm.
I want to order some tests, but I think you may need surgery.
It's a simple procedure and it will relieve your pain.
So it's not a high-risk operation?
No, not at all.
It's quite routine.
Are there any other treatment options?
Not that I'd recommend.
This is the best course of treatment, in my opinion.
I was really surprised by what Dr. Slope said.
I really didn't want to have surgery.
I think I'd better get a second opinion before going under the knife.
This podcast is called Seeing a Specialist, and a specialist S-P-E-C-I-A-L-I-S-T is usually a doctor that is an expert in one particular area of medicine.
So it could be a cardiologist, someone who's an expert with the heart.
It could be a pediatrician, someone who works especially with young children.
Well, many different types of specialties and specialists in medicine, and in today's podcast, the story begins by me saying that I went to my doctor because I had a nagging pain in my leg.
A nagging pain or a nagging pain.
In my dialect in Minnesota here in the United States I say nagging.
But the more common pronunciation, the more standard pronunciation is probably nagging.
Nagging, see it's hard for me to say it, nagging is N-A-G-G-I-N-G.
And when we say we have a nagging pain, we mean that it is a pain that is bothering us for a long time.
That isn't serious in the sense that you have to go to the hospital, but it bothers you.
It hurts you enough so that you may want to go to the doctor.
The word nagging comes from a verb, to nag, N-A-G, which means to bother.
We usually use the verb, however, as something that someone does to someone else.
His wife is always nagging him about something means she's always telling him to do something, always asking him to do something over and over again, so much that it begins to bother him.
So that is the word nagging.
Well, after the doctor examined me, and the verb to examine, E-X-A-M-I-N-E, is the verb we use for what doctors do to you.
They examine you, and when you go to a hospital or to the doctor's office, there's usually an exam room or an examination room.
This is not exam like a test, but it's exam here means to look at, to examine.
So you go into an examination room and the doctor examines you.
In this case, my doctor ran some routine tests.
A test.
TEST could be a blood test, where they take some of your blood and they send it to a laboratory to check for certain things.
The verb we use for medical tests is usually to run.
I'm going to run some tests on you, or he ran some tests on me means he performed or he did some of these tests.
When we say something is a routine test, R-O-U-T-I-N-E, we mean it's a normal, regular test that the doctor runs many, many different times with different patients, not a special test, routine test, maybe a blood test, that sort of thing. well the doctor suggested that i go see a specialist and we already know what a specialist is someone who is an expert in a particular area of medicine usually in the united states to become a doctor First, you have to go through four years of regular bachelor's degree.
In some countries, you can start training to be a doctor as soon as you graduate from high school, but that's not true in the US.
In the United States you have to have a bachelor's degree, a four-year bachelor's degree, usually in some science area, but it's not required.
And then you have to go to a separate school, to graduate school, to medical school.
And that can last anywhere between four and six years.
If you want to become a specialist, you have to study even more and work even more.
So it could be two or three more years before you become a specialist.
So from the time you leave high school until you can become a specialist could be as much as 10 years.
So you would be in your late 20s if you started right away.
No, you'd be older than that, wouldn't you?
No, you'd be in your late 20s if you started college when you were 18.
Anyway, in this case, going back to the story, I said I made an appointment with Dr. Slope.
I made an appointment.
Of course, we use the verb to make an appointment when we are trying to schedule or arrange a time to see our doctor.
Again here in the United States the medical system.
It depends on how much money you have honestly.
We have a private medical system and we have a public medical system.
And the better.
Private medical systems, of course, offer a much better range of services, more things that you can see, or rather get from the hospital and the doctor.
Examination with the doctor begins by the doctor coming in and saying, Good morning.
How are you today?
How are you feeling?
A doctor could say a lot of things here like, What seems to be the problem?
Or, Why have you come to see us today?
But here he begins with just, How are you today?
Simon, that's me in the story, Simon says, I'm fine, Dr. Slope.
My GP, Dr. Harding, referred me to you.
My GP, the letter G and the letter P, capital letter.
G-P means my general practitioner.
Practitioner is P-R-A-C-T-I-T-I-O-N-E-R.
And a general practitioner is a doctor who is not a specialist.
He is, or she is what you could call a generalist, somebody who knows a little bit about lots of different things.
And a general practitioner is usually the first person and main doctor that you have, the one that you go see for all of your problems.
And if he doesn't know the answer or can't help you, he will send you to a specialist.
So a general practitioner is sometimes called also a primary specialist physician.
That is the person who you see the most the, the main, your main doctor.
Well, in the story the GP, Dr Harding, refers Simon to the specialist, and to refer R-E-F-E-R means to tell someone that they should go see someone else.
And in the medical system in the United States You can't just call up the specialist because you think you should go see a specialist.
Usually you have to talk to your general practitioner and then, if he or she thinks you should see a specialist, they refer you to a specialist.
They give you a piece of paper or they tell you to call back at the doctor's office and ask for the particular specialist.
So that is the use of the verb here, to refer.
We can use that verb in other senses, too.
I refer you to today's newspaper means I am recommending or I am telling you you should look at today's newspaper.
You can use referred in other areas, too.
I was referred to you by your friend John.
It means your friend John said I should talk to you.
Well, Dr. Slope looks at Simon.
Simon says that he was hoping that Dr. Slope would be able to diagnose the problem. to diagnose d-i-g-n-o-s-e the verb is to figure out what's wrong with you and it's a verb we usually use for medicine for doctors The doctor diagnoses the patient.
The doctor figures out what's wrong with the person.
The patient, of course.
P-A-T-I-E-N-T is the person who is sick, the person who is seeing the doctor.
The noun for diagnose is diagnosis with an SIS at the end, and that is what the doctor tells you that you have, what problem you have.
So someone may say, what's the diagnosis?
They mean, what is the problem?
That would be the noun.
You can use that verb diagnose outside of medicine.
It is sometimes used, for example, if you have a problem with your computer.
And the IT, the technical people, may come in and diagnose the problem on your computer, figure out or find out what is wrong with your computer.
Dr. Slope says, well, let's take a look.
And that is a common expression.
Let's take a look.
Let's examine you.
He says that he wants to order some tests, but he thinks that Simon may need surgery.
To order some tests is very similar to to run some tests.
To order a test means that the doctor Gives you a piece of paper that you take to the laboratory.
He's telling you he's ordering, if you will, these tests from the laboratory, but it's Here usually the same as to run the test.
The laboratory actually does the tests, they actually run the tests.
But we usually use those verbs pretty much in the same way to order a test, to run a test, and The doctor says he's going to order some tests, but he thinks that Simon may need surgery.
And surgery, S-U-R-G-E-R-Y, a noun, is when the doctor has to cut you, open you somehow.
Usually it's something that you do in a hospital.
Usually it's something you do in an operating room.
To operate, O-P-E-R-A-T-E, means the same as to do surgery on someone.
And you may need surgery to fix your heart.
You may need surgery to fix your knee.
The doctor actually has to.
We would say cut you open and fix you, or go inside your body to fix whatever is the problem.
And surgery is the noun.
Again, the verb would be to do surgery or to operate.
And there is also the adjective surgical, which is related to things that are related to surgery.
Well, Dr. Slope says it's a simple procedure and it will relieve your pain.
A procedure, P-R-O-C-E-D-U-R-E, is another word really for surgery or operation.
It's what the doctor has to do to you.
It's not always the same as a surgery.
A procedure may be, for example, that they need to examine your stomach.
So they may need to put something in your mouth and down your throat into your stomach.
That would be a procedure.
The procedure can also mean, however, an operation or a surgery.
The doctor says the procedure will relieve your pain, R-E-L-I-E-V-E.
To relieve pain means to lessen pain, to lower your pain, to make you feel better so you have less pain.
The noun is relief, R-E-L-I-E-F.
The verb is to relieve.
Simon says to the doctor, so it's not a high-risk operation?
A high, H-I-G-H, risk, R-I-S-K, two words, means that it could be dangerous.
When we say something is high-risk, that means that the surgery or the operation could cause more problems.
Of course, an operation is the noun, means the same as surgery.
Dr. Slope says not at all, meaning not even a little bit.
It's not high risk.
We say not at all means no, not in any way.
Dr. Slope says it's quite routine.
And again, routine, we know R-O-U-T-I-N-E, means it's quite common, it's quite normal.
Notice the use of the word quite Q-U-I-T-E.
It's basically the same as it's very routine, it's very common.
It's a little more formal.
Someone says it's quite routine, but they're used very similarly, very and quite in this case.
Simon says, are there any other treatment options?
Treatment.
T-R-E-A-T-M-E-N-T is another word for what the doctor gives you or does to you to help you.
That's called the treatment.
So you go to the doctor, and the doctor diagnoses you, and then he or she gives you a treatment.
Maybe some pills, some drugs to take.
It may be surgery.
It may be changing your exercise or your diet, what you eat.
Stop smoking, for example.
That's good advice.
So Simon asked what the other treatment options or choices are.
And Dr. Slope says that there are no other good treatment options.
He says, not that I'd recommend, meaning there are no other ones that I would recommend.
He says this is the best course of treatment, in my opinion.
The expression course C-O-U-R-S-E of treatment really means the same as this is the best treatment.
A course of treatment usually means that there is more than one thing that you have to do, several things that you may have to do.
Well, at the end of the story Simon says he's really surprised that he doesn't want to have surgery.
And of course, who wants to have surgery?
He says, I think I better get a second opinion before going under the knife.
A second opinion is when you go to the doctor and the doctor says well, I think you need this, or I think the problem is that
And you say, okay, thanks, doctor.
I want to talk to someone else.
I want a second opinion.
And in most medical insurance plans in the United States, you can ask for a second opinion from a different doctor to make sure that it really is the correct diagnosis.
See the expression.
To go under the knife means to have an operation, to have a surgery to be operated on, where the doctor actually has to take a knife and cut you open.
The expression is to go under the knife, to have surgery.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
I'm fine, Dr. Slope.
My GP, Dr. Harding, referred me to you.
He thought that you might be able to diagnose the problem with my leg.
Well, let's take a look.
Hmm.
I want to order some tests, but I think you may need surgery.
It's a simple procedure, and it'll relieve your pain.
So it's not a high-risk operation?
No, not at all.
It's quite routine.
Are there any other treatment options?
Not that I recommend.
This is the best course of treatment, in my opinion.
I was really surprised by what Dr. Slope said.
I really didn't want to have surgery.
I think I better get a second opinion before going under the knife.
For more information about the script of this podcast, you should go to our website at eslpodcom and find out more about getting the transcript.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
