Welcome back to the Learn English Podcast, the podcast teaching English in context so you can learn naturally.
On today's episode.
I want to talk about terms that you might use when you're talking about seeing a doctor.
I want to discuss these because the healthcare system in the United States might be a little bit different from health systems in other countries.
We don't have universal healthcare here.
And there is a different process and different words that you might hear here, that you might not hear in other places.
So we're going to talk about some medical terms, some terms that have to do with health insurance.
So that way, if you ever need to see a doctor in the United States, or if you hear someone talking about seeing a doctor, you'll understand what these terms mean and you'll be able to use them.
So if you're interested in learning about some health-related terms and building your English vocabulary, then follow along, because we're about to begin.
Before we get started, I want to remind you to look at the description for some helpful links, and so you can find the vocabulary list for this episode.
These are words and phrases that I used, so you can take them, study them and start using them in conversation.
Let's talk about some terms and phrases that you might hear when people are talking about going to the doctor's office.
Now, one way that people say this phrase or talk about going to the doctor is to use the verb go.
So I am going to the doctor or I went to the doctor.
That is one way of phrasing it.
People might also use the word see.
I saw the doctor or I'm seeing the doctor.
That can be used in place of the verb go.
You will hear people use both the verb go or the verb see when they are talking about going to their doctor's office.
When they're talking about actually going to the doctor for a particular appointment time.
You will probably hear the verb have.
I have a doctor's appointment or I had a doctor's appointment.
Tying that verb have with appointment.
But if you take out that word appointment, then you're going to use the verbs go or see.
Doctor is one way of referring to this medical professional that you have an appointment with, but you'll also hear the word physician.
Physician is a little bit more formal and it is the official term.
When we talk about physicians, we have really two main categories for them.
One is called primary care physician and one is a specialist, some type of physician who specializes in a particular field.
When we're talking about seeing the person that you go to every year for a general visit.
That is usually a primary care physician.
Now, I think they're called something different in British English.
I don't remember what they're called exactly, but here in the United States we're going to say primary care physician.
When you go just every year for your appointment with this doctor, nothing's really wrong.
You're just going in to make sure everything's okay and maybe get some general tests.
That is called a checkup.
So a checkup is just going in every year just to follow up with your doctor and just make sure everything is going okay.
No real complaints.
You're not going in for any real reason, just for your annual exam.
So checkup.
Annual exam, again, are pretty interchangeable.
Annual exam is, again, more formal.
You're going to see that on paperwork, but you'll hear people say checkup.
I'm going to the doctor for a checkup.
You might also hear wellness exam.
That is another formal term like annual exam.
You will hear this with people when they go for their checkups.
That can be an annual wellness exam.
You can also hear it with pets.
So when I take my pets to the veterinarian who sees them, there is an option for a wellness exam.
They're just going in for their annual checkup.
Nothing's wrong, no complaints, making sure everything's okay.
Sometimes, when you go to your doctor's office and sometimes when you go for a checkup, they might order a blood draw.
A blood draw is when they send you to a laboratory.
And you get blood removed from your veins so they can run tests and just see how everything is.
See how the blood cells and the hormones and the ions that are in your blood are doing what their levels are.
So you can hear blood draw.
You can also hear labs.
People will say, I need to get my blood drawn.
I need to get labs done.
Those are interchangeable with each other.
Usually when your doctor orders it, they're going to say they're ordering labs.
Usually that is the term that the doctor uses.
When we talk about primary care physicians, sometimes people abbreviate that and they will just say PCP.
If you see that on paperwork, if you are someone who works in the medical field and you end up coming to the United States to work in the medical field, You might see PCP.
PCP primary care physician.
Physicians usually also have a doctorate of medicine, which is an MD degree.
So if someone has the letters MD after their name, that means they are a doctor and they are a medical doctor.
Sometimes you will see people abbreviate primary care doctor to be PM doctor.
D, primary medical doctor.
Interchangeable with PCP, I will say PCP is more common as a primary care physician.
That's usually what you're going to see, but I have seen both, and I used to work in the medical field.
So I saw both of those on patient charts.
If you are someone who does come to the United States to work in the medical field, you might see both of them.
Now, when people talk, they usually don't say, I'm going to go see my PCP.
That is incredibly awkward.
That's not what people say.
What people usually say is that I'm going to see my primary.
So they do shorten primary care physician, but they don't go by the initials.
They just say primary.
So if someone says, oh, I need to go see my primary.
That means they're going to see their primary care physician.
Also sometimes if, let's say, you have some type of accident, you have to go to the emergency room and they of course treat your injury.
They might tell you follow up with your primary in two weeks.
That means go see your normal physician, the person that you normally see for your healthcare issues.
Go see them within two weeks.
So if you do end up going to the emergency room or urgent care, get some type of treatment in the United States.
You might hear that, you might see that on your paperwork.
Follow up with primary in a month.
Follow up with primary in three days.
That's just telling you how long until you should go see your regular doctor.
If you have not watched the previous episodes, you might not know that I teach English to people who are learning it as a second language.
And one of my students is someone from a different country who moved to the US.
And she was trying to set up her primary care physician.
She was trying to find a primary care physician.
And she asked me about it.
Because in the United States we have two main branches, if you are an adult or a primary care physician,
One is called a family medicine doctor and the other is called an internal medicine doctor.
Now on most websites, when you look up primary care physicians, you're going to see both.
And my student asked me like, what's the difference?
How do I know which one to see?
And they're pretty similar.
Family medicine doctors are able to treat entire families.
So think of people of different age ranges.
They are able to see children, adults, and older people.
They're able to treat members of the same family, which is why they're called family medicine doctors.
And they're able to treat things such as colds, flus.
Maybe if you have some type of chronic condition like diabetes or high blood pressure, they're able to treat all of that.
An internal medicine physician is very similar, but they only see adults.
So this is someone you're going to see if you are 18 years or older.
Again, they can treat common diseases colds flus diabetes, high blood pressure, all of those basic things.
But they also might be the people who work in a hospital.
If you do end up going to a hospital and having to stay in a hospital, you might see an internal medicine physician.
If you have a lot of medical problems, an internist or an internal medical physician might be the better option, but they are pretty similar to each other.
If you are younger than 18, your primary care physician might be a family medicine doctor or, more likely, it's going to be a pediatrician.
A pediatrician is someone who sees people who are under 18 and that's all they see.
They never treat adult patients, only people who are not considered adults which, in the United States, is less than 18 years old.
In the United States there is a shortage of primary care physicians, especially in more rural areas, areas that don't have a lot of people living in it.
In those cases, you might also see someone who is not a doctor but who is able to help with basic medical problems.
These can be nurses who have specialized training.
Those are called nurse practitioners.
That abbreviation is called NP for nurse practitioner.
If you see that on paperwork or if you see those letters after someone's name that is, a nurse who has specialized training, who is able to see basic medical conditions like a primary care physician would.
There is also something called a physician assistant.
This person is not a nurse, but is someone who went to school and got training to help physicians with their cases.
They also are able to see someone when they come in for medical care.
This abbreviation is PA for physician assistant.
If you see those letters after someone's name.
In both cases, an NP and a PA work with a doctor.
So there usually is a doctor in the clinics that they are working in, but you might not actually see the doctor if you see them.
I had to go in recently a few months ago for a problem and I did see a physician assistant.
I just saw that person.
I did not see the doctor.
I know there was a doctor in the building, but I just saw the physician assistant.
So that is an option and a lot of places do have that, because It is hard to find a primary care physician in certain areas.
And there's just a lot of people and not enough doctors really to meet all of the needs.
They need these other specialties.
They need nurse practitioners and physician assistants to try to help out and see patients.
If you have a condition that your primary care physician is not able to help you with, then you're going to be sent to a specialist.
A specialist is someone who specializes in a certain part of the body or in a certain thing, a certain medical specialty.
There are many different specialists, depending on what part of the body you're talking about, of course.
And here in the United States usually you have to go to your primary care physician first before you can see someone else who is a specialist.
This isn't all of the time.
There are certain insurance programs that allow you to go see any doctor, but those are usually more expensive.
Usually, if you have a health insurance plan and you don't have a very expensive health insurance plan, you have to go and see your primary care physician first.
Once they say that your condition is too complicated and that you need to see somebody else, then they will refer you to a specialist.
So they're going to use that verb refer.
And if you want to see a specialist, you need to ask your primary care physician if they can refer you.
Refer means that they put into the insurance that they can't treat whatever it is that you have that they want to send you to see somebody else who is more specialized in the area that you need.
It's always going to be that word refer.
So when they do that, they're going to fill out a referral for you and hopefully your insurance will let you go and see that particular specialist.
In the United States, like I said, we don't have universal health care, and that referral process...
Sometimes it can take a long time.
Sometimes it's quick.
It really depends on the insurance company.
And the reason why sometimes it can take a long time is that the insurance company needs to authorize.
So you'll hear this word authorization a lot in health care here, because insurance companies need to approve medical treatments and which doctors you get to see.
When they do that, that is called authorization.
You'll also hear the word shortened to just be auth, A-U-T-H, auth.
When a doctor says I need to put in for authorization for this, that means they have to deal with the insurance company and basically ask them that you can get whatever it is that you need.
You'll also hear places say that they need to get the prior auth, which is the shortened way of saying authorization.
And the prior means that before they can see you.
So maybe you're supposed to go see a certain specialist and you haven't been able to yet.
You might call the specialist and they'll say we need to get prior off from the insurance, which means your insurance has to authorize your visit before you can come and see us.
We can't see you right now.
That is one of the hard parts of dealing with the insurance company here in the United States.
There's a lot of different insurance companies.
There's a lot of different insurance options and insurance plans, and everything covers something different.
When I go and see my primary care physician.
He is covered by my insurance, but I still have to pay 20 every time I go and see him.
And that $20 in my case is $20.
It's different in other cases, but That amount of money that you have to pay when you see a doctor is called a copay.
A copay means that it is the amount that you are paying along with the insurance.
So the insurance is paying some amount and you're paying some amount along with them.
And that amount that you have to pay is a copay.
The copay changes depending on who you see.
Usually primary care physicians have a lower copay amount.
Like I said, I think it's $20 for me when I go see my primary.
But if I wanted to see somebody else, if I wanted to see a specialist, it's a different amount.
My case is $30.
But when I was talking to my student who is trying to find her primary care physician, her specialist copay was 70.
So anytime she went to go see somebody who is not her primary, she had to pay $70 to go see them.
And that can add up, right?
That can be expensive.
If you have to go see a specialist, if you know you have some certain condition that requires a specialist, and if you are looking to buy an insurance plan, you have to look at that.
Look and see how much the co-pays are, because there is a difference.
There's also co-pays on medication, so when i pick up a prescription i have to pay a certain amount of money.
There is co-pays for therapy.
So when I go to physical therapy, there is a certain copay for that.
I hope this episode helped you.
I hope you learned a little bit about these terms.
Even if you don't have to deal with health insurance in the United States, at least you heard a little bit about primary care, the types of primary care specialists and what these terms mean.
So if someone says them, you'll be able to understand what they are trying to communicate.
Reminder to look at the description of this podcast episode so you can find the vocabulary list.
Take this list, study this list and try to use it in conversation, or at least try to do some practice with it.
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