Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 379, A Routine Medical Procedure.
This is ESL podcast episode 379.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development at in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
We have a website.
Oh, yes, we do.
You can visit it at eslpodcom and download a learning guide for this episode, which contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
If you're looking for a way to improve your English even faster, take a look at our learning guide on the website.
This episode is called a routine medical procedure.
Something that is routine means it is common, it is not complicated or particularly difficult, something you do all the time.
Let's get started.
Aren't you nervous about your surgery next week?
No.
It's a routine procedure.
I don't even need to be admitted overnight.
But aren't you going under general anesthesia?
It's not the same as local anesthesia, you know.
Yes, I know.
This is an outpatient procedure.
All the same, there may be complications.
If there are post-op problems, I'm sure the doctors will take good care of me.
But what if they release you too early from the hospital?
I've heard that these days doctors are under pressure to free up beds as soon as possible.
It's true that I may be impaired after the procedure, but my daughter will be there and I trust her judgment.
But what if... If it does, you can say...
Our dialogue begins with Julia asking Hugh, aren't you nervous about your surgery next week?
Surgery is a medical operation that usually involves taking out or somehow fixing a part of your body.
Often it involves cutting through your skin to get to that part.
You can have heart surgery.
You can have kidney surgery.
These are all kinds of surgery.
Hugh says to Julia, no, it's a routine procedure, meaning it's a normal or common medical operation.
It's not very dangerous.
He says, I don't even need to be admitted overnight.
To be admitted here means to be admitted to the hospital, meaning you will stay at the hospital for at least 24 hours.
Overnight means through the night, so from one night to the following day.
But Hugh says he doesn't need to be admitted.
It's not a serious procedure.
Julia asks, but aren't you going under general anesthesia?
Anesthesia is when you are given certain drugs to make you very sleepy and eventually to sort of lose consciousness.
You don't know what's going on.
This is what we give patients who are having surgery.
We don't want them to feel the pain, so we give them drugs so they basically are sleeping.
That's general anesthesia.
That's a tough word to say, even for native speakers, anesthesia.
Julia adds, it's not the same as local anesthesia, you know.
Local anesthesia is when you only have a small part or section of your body where you can't feel anything.
So the drug only affects, for example, your arm or your leg in one part of your body.
You're not asleep.
Hugh says, yes, I know.
This is an outpatient procedure.
When we say someone is an outpatient, we mean they go to the hospital or the clinic but they don't stay there overnight.
Outpatient procedures are medical surgeries and operations that you go in in the morning and you go home in the afternoon.
You don't stay the whole 24 hours or more.
Hugh says if the doctors don't think I can go home the same day, they'll just keep me under observation.
The expression to keep someone under observation is one that you will hear in a hospital.
It means that we keep the person at the hospital so the doctors can watch or monitor their health.
That's keeping someone under observation.
Julia responds to Hugh by saying, All the same, there may be complications.
All the same is an expression that means nevertheless or even so.
Taking into consideration what you said.
However, there is still this additional problem or situation.
In this case, Julia is saying that there still could be complications from this routine procedure.
Complications are problems, things that could go wrong.
Hugh responds, it's supposed to be a low-risk procedure.
Risk is similar to danger, so a low-risk procedure is not dangerous.
The opposite would be a high-risk procedure.
Hewes says, Post means after.
Op means operation in this case.
So post-op is after the operation, after the surgery has been completed.
Julia is still worried.
She says, but what if they release you too early from the hospital?
I've heard that these days doctors are under pressure to free up beds as soon as possible.
The verb to release means to let go, to allow someone to leave.
In this case, the hospital is saying to the patient, you must go home now.
You can't stay in the hospital anymore.
We also use this verb when we let prisoners out of jail or prison.
They are released now.
Julia is worried that the hospital will release him before he is completely recovered, before he is healthy again.
The reason she thinks this is because she's heard from other people that these days meaning nowadays, in the current time doctors are under pressure or are being forced to free up beds as soon as possible.
To free up something means to make them unoccupied.
To free up a bed would mean to send patients home so that they have a bed for a new patient to come in.
We also use this expression with time.
I need to free up some time, meaning I need to cancel, move or reschedule things on my calendar, so I have time to do certain things.
I never have to do this.
I never have anything to do.
Julie is worried then, that the hospital will release Hugh too early because they want to free up his bed for another pain patient.
Hugh says, it's true that I may be impaired after the procedure, but my daughter will be there and I trust her judgment.
To be impaired I-M-P-A-I-R-E-D means to be not at your best, to be hurt, to be harmed.
That is impaired.
My eyesight was impaired means I couldn't see very well.
He was saying that he may be impaired mentally when he finishes the procedure, but his daughter will be there and he trusts her judgment.
Judgment here means the ability to make decisions, common sense we might say.
Judgment has a couple of different meanings in English as does the verb to release.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations about both of these terms.
Hugh says, I'm sure, I'm confident, that my daughter will make sure I'm fine.
To make sure means to investigate, to act in a way that guarantees something will happen, to make a situation happen the way you want it to happen.
He says his daughter will make sure he's fine, he's okay to go home before he's discharged.
To be discharged is the same as to be released from a hospital in this case.
Then Julia asks but what if?
And Hugh interrupts her and says don't worry, nothing is going to happen.
If it does, you can say, I told you so.
I told you so is an expression that means I told you that this would happen.
Usually it's a phrase to show that you are right about something that you said, often with someone who may have disagreed with you.
So, for example, the Los Angeles Dodgers are playing a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, who everybody hates unless you're in San Francisco.
People say that about Los Angeles, too.
Anyway, they're playing the Giants and you have a bet with a friend of yours from San Francisco and you say I bet the Dodgers win.
Then the two teams play the game.
Of course, the Dodgers will win.
The Los Angeles team will win the game.
And you say to your friend, I told you so after the game.
I told you that they would win.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Aren't you nervous about your surgery next week?
No, it's a routine procedure.
I don't even need to be admitted overnight.
But aren't you going under general anesthesia?
It's not the same as local anesthesia, you know.
Yes, I know.
This is an outpatient procedure.
If the doctors don't think I can go home the same day, they'll just keep me under observation.
All the same, there may be complications.
It's supposed to be a low-risk procedure.
If there are post-op problems, I'm sure the doctors will take good care of me.
But what if they release you too early from the hospital?
I've heard that these days doctors are under pressure to free up beds as soon as possible.
It's true that I may be impaired after the procedure, but my daughter will be there and I trust her judgment.
I'm sure she'll make sure I'm fine to go home before I'm discharged.
But what if... Don't worry.
Nothing bad is going to happen.
If it does, you can say, I told you so.
The script for this episode was written by a woman of excellent judgment, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
We'll see you next time, or you'll hear us next time, on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
