Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 466, Having a Good or Bad Bedside Manner.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 466.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
If you haven't been to our website, please go to eslpodcom and download a.
The learning guide 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.
This episode is about bedside manner.
It's going to be a conversation about doctors and it will use a lot of vocabulary that doctors might use when you go to visit them.
Let's get started.
I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a doctor.
Why?
What's wrong with his bedside manner?
I've seen him with patience, and he can be really callous.
For instance, I was in the room last week when he was telling one of his patients that she was taking a turn for the worse.
What did he say?
He just blurted it out.
He told her the diagnosis and he didn't even try to soften the news when she asked about her prognosis.
He did absolutely nothing to try to comfort or reassure her.
I feel sorry for the patient.
That's the point.
Gregory didn't.
And it didn't seem to phase him that the patient was very upset and close to hysterics.
That's terrible.
I'll try to remember to be more compassionate with my patients.
Don't worry.
It's against your nature to be anything but considerate.
Our dialogue begins with Cho saying to Joy, I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a doctor.
To be cut out means to be created to do something, something that is a good match for you, something that is intended for you.
Someone might say if you like to write and ask people questions, you may be cut out to be a journalist, a reporter, someone who works at a newspaper.
More often you'll hear this expression in the negative.
He's not cut out for that kind of work.
He is not made for that kind of work.
He doesn't have the talent for that kind of work.
Cho is a doctor and says that he's not cut out to be a doctor.
Joy says, I think you'll be great.
Patients are people who are receiving medical care or attention from a doctor or a nurse.
If you're sick, you go in to see a doctor.
You are a patient.
Bedside manner refers to the way that a doctor or a nurse talks to people, how they give medical advice or instructions or other information.
It's a general term to refer to how doctors treat their patients, how they communicate with their patients, because that's such an important part of medicine.
Joy says that Cho has great bedside manner, not like Gregory.
Cho says, why?
What's wrong with his bedside manner?
Joy says, I've seen him with patience, and he can be really callous.
Callous, C-A-L-L-O-U-S, means without considering another person's feelings.
Somewhat mean not being considerate of someone else, not thinking about the feelings of someone else.
Callous, like the expression cut out, has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Joyce says, for instance.
For example, I was in the room last week when he was telling one of his patients that she was taking a turn for the worse.
The expression to take a turn for the worse means to be getting worse, to worsen.
It's the opposite of getting better, especially when you are talking about someone's health.
If you say she's taken a turn for the worse, you mean she has become sicker.
She has become more ill.
Cho says, what did he say?
Meaning, what did he say to this patient about taking a turn for the worse?
Joy says, he just blurted it out.
To blurt B-L-U-R-T something out is a phrasal verb meaning to say something without thinking about it first, without thinking about how it will sound to the other person or how that other person may react.
It can be a good thing or a bad thing.
In this case, it clearly was a bad thing because this other doctor Gregory, told his patient the diagnosis and didn't even try to soften the news when she asked about her prognosis.
A diagnosis is the doctor's conclusion about what the medical problem is.
It's the doctor's idea about what the problem with your health is.
To soften something here means to make it nicer, to make it easier to accept.
So to soften the news means to tell someone something in such a way that it doesn't upset them.
We have an expression to soften the blow, B-L-O-W.
Blow here means a punch or a hit.
So if someone is going to give you bad news, they will try to soften the blow, to soften the news.
Women sometimes do this to men who ask them out on a date.
They'll say, oh, I'm busy on Friday.
And the man says, what about Saturday?
Oh, I'm busy on Saturday, too.
If the man is intelligent, he'll understand that she's trying to soften the blow instead of just saying no, you're ugly.
For example, a prognosis P-R-O-G-N-O-S-I-S is the doctor's opinion about how your health will change in the future.
So diagnosis is what the doctor thinks is what is wrong with you.
Prognosis is what the doctor thinks the future will be for you.
If you have a good prognosis, that means you will be healthy or at least live for a long time.
This doctor, however, did not try to soften the news about her prognosis.
Joy says he did absolutely nothing to try to comfort or reassure her.
To comfort someone means to do or say something that will make the person feel better, make the person feel more comfortable.
To reassure someone means to make them feel better about something.
It's similar to comfort.
Make them feel less worried about something or more confident about something.
We have an expression, let me reassure you, there is nothing wrong with the American banking system.
The idea is that we are giving you confidence that everything is okay.
Cho says to Joy, I feel sorry for the patient.
To feel sorry for someone is to understand the person's difficulty, to empathize with someone.
Joy says that's the point.
Gregory didn't meaning.
Gregory didn't feel sorry for his patient and it didn't seem to faze him that the patient was very upset and close to hysterics.
The expression didn't seem to phase F-A-Z-E.
Someone is a phrase that means that you are surprised because someone else wasn't affected by something or didn't have a strong reaction to something.
So, going back to our previous example, the man asks a woman out on a date.
The woman says no, you're ugly, because she doesn't try to soften the blow.
You see, doesn't try to comfort him.
And the man is not phased by her answer.
He just turns to another woman and asks her out instead.
He is not affected.
He does not have a reaction to something that he should have a reaction to.
Now, Gregory was not phased by what happened. even though the woman was close to hysterics.
Hysterics, H-Y-S-T-E-R-I-C-S is when you have uncontrolled emotions, when you can't stop crying because the emotion is so strong in you.
Cho says that's terrible.
To be compassionate means to be caring, to be kind, to be nice to someone.
Joy says don't worry.
It's against your nature to be anything but considerate the expression.
To be against your nature means it's something that you can't do because it's not part of your personality.
It's not part of your character.
It's not part of who you are.
Anything but is a phrase we use to emphasize the next word by saying it is definitely not true.
For example, the movie was anything but boring.
It was in fact very exciting.
In this case, Joy is saying that Cho is anything but considerate.
To be considerate means to be nice, to be aware of other people's feelings.
Joy is saying that it is against Cho's nature to.
It is impossible for Cho to be anything but considerate.
He is not going to be mean to his patients.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a doctor.
I think you'll be great.
I've seen you with patients and you have a great bedside manner, not like Gregory.
Why?
What's wrong with his bedside manner?
I've seen him in patients, and he can be really callous.
For instance, I was in the room last week when he was telling one of his patients that she was taking a turn for the worse.
What did he say?
He just blurted it out.
He told her the diagnosis and he didn't even try to soften the news when she asked about her prognosis.
He did absolutely nothing to try to comfort or reassure her.
I feel sorry for the patient.
That's the point.
Gregory didn't.
And it didn't seem to faze him that the patient was very upset and close to hysterics.
That's terrible.
I'll try to remember to be more compassionate with my patients.
Don't worry.
It's against your nature to be anything but considerate.
It is against the nature of our scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say, to be anything but brilliant in her scripts.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to 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.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
