Radiological English R. Ribes ´ P. R. Ros

Radiological English R. Ribes ´ P.R. Ros

RamÕn Ribes ´ Pablo R. Ros

Radiological English

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RamÕn Ribes, MD, PhD Hospital Reina Sofia Servicio de RadiologÌa Avda. Menndez Pidal s/n.

CÕrdoba 14004, Spain Pablo R. Ros, MD, MPH

Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

Executive Vice Chairman and Associate Radiologist-in-Chief, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Chief, Division of Radiology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Harvard Medical School

75 Francis St.

Boston, MA 02115, USA

ISBN-10 3-540-29328-0 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York ISBN-13 978-3-540-29328-6 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2006929202

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To Rosario Alarcon, I do admire you as my wife, as the mother of my two daughters and as a successful professional.

R. Ribes

To Silvia, my wife.

P.R. Ros

For all of us non-native English speakers, to learn English has been a chal- lenge at a certain point in our lives. Furthermore, we would guess that none of us in the healthcare profession has had much training in medical English or, more specifically, radiological English. It is said that theolo- gians, lawyers, engineers and physicians speak in a different language from the rest of society; for us who practice the radiological sciences, the learn- ing of radiological English has typically been a ªlearn on the jobº experi- ence.

Radiological English is by far the most demanding medical specialty English since radiologists need to know not only radiological terminology, but also that of referring physicians. In the years of residency before be- coming involved in a particular subspecialty, radiology residents talk to virtually all specialists in the hospital, so they are exposed to a great deal of medical terminology which at the beginning seems impossible to man- age.Probably that was the reason why we began to write Medical English which was also published by Springer. Although writing Medical English required a great deal of time and effort, we believe it was easier for us as radiologists than for any other specialist. This may explain the scarcity of books teaching medical English written by doctors.

After having written a book on general medical English, we felt the pressing need to write a second book on the medical English we talk on a daily basis and are interested in: radiological English. From the beginning we realized that even within radiology there are many kinds of spoken (and heard) radiological English.

In this book we have tried to be as comprehensive as possible, so it is divided into units containing different aspects of communication in radio- logical English. After an introductory unit on the method of approaching radiological English, we touch upon specific radiological grammar, scientif- ic literature and how to write letters to radiological journals. We have also included units on tips to attend international courses on radiology and specifically on giving a radiology talk or chairing a scientific session. There are also units on how to use Latin and Greek terms in medical English in- cluding singular and plural forms. We close the first portion of the book with the most common dreaded acronyms and abbreviations used by radi- ologists who are native English speakers.

Preface

The second portion of the book refers to radiology reporting with units dealing with describing lesions and composing reports, both normal and abnormal. The third portion of the book deals with ªdialectsº in radiologi- cal English. English speakers are fascinated with different forms of speak- ing English in different parts of the world such as the United States, Ire- land or New Zealand. The same happens in radiology where there are some specific ªdialectsº of radiological English in: (1) interventional radiol- ogy, (2) on call where a lot of slang terms are used and, finally, (3) in ra- diological management where administrators use a number of key terms that permeate the specialty. We close the book with three units on conver- sational radiological English, communication skills in medicine and a sur- vival conversation guide.

We really hope this book will be helpful to professionals working within the realm of radiology who are non-native English speakers. This would in- clude not only radiologists, either trained or in training, but also technolo- gists, nurses, administrators, basic scientists, and others who work in diag- nostic imaging and its subspecialties. We had fun putting together this book, thinking about areas to cover and enlisting collaborators who like us were interested in the subtleties of communication in radiology at many levels. But now, the final test rests in you the reader. We are sure that you will find situations that will appear familiar to you, and the book will be helpful in improving your communication skills in this specialty based so much on communication with patients, referring physicians and other ra- diological professionals. Please let us know how to improve this book and send us your experiences so we can start working on a second edition of Radiological English.

In short, this manual is intended to make the adaptation to an English- speaking radiological environment easier for you than it was for us since there is no time to be wasted when you are faced with such a great oppor- tunity of personal and radiological development. We hope you enjoy read- ing this manual as much as we have enjoyed writing it.

RamÕn Ribes, MD, PhD Pablo R. Ros, MD, MPH, FACR

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Hansel Otero, MD, for his valuable help in the preparation of Unit XVI.

We would like to thank Mildred Dewire for her assistance in preparing the manuscript.

Preface VIII

Unit I

Methodological Approach to Radiological English

Introduction . . . . 3

Unit II Radiological Grammar Tenses . . . . 9

Modal Verb s . . . . 21

Conditionals . . . . 26

Passive Voice . . . . 30

Reported Speech . . . . 33

Questions . . . . 36

Infinitive/-Ing . . . . 38

Countab le and Uncountab le Nouns . . . . 42

Articles: A/An and The . . . . 43

Word Order . . . . 45

Relative Clauses . . . . 46

Adjectives . . . . 49

Prepositions . . . . 55

Unit III Scientific Literature: Writing an Article Preliminary Work . . . . 61

Article Header . . . . 61

Main Text . . . . 65

References . . . . 72

Additional Material . . . . 79

Final Tips . . . . 80

Contents

Unit IV

Letters to Editors of Radiological Journals

Submission Letters . . . . 84 Re-submission Letters . . . . 85 Re-configuration Letters . . . . 86 Letters of Thanks for an Invitation to Publish an Article in a Journal 89 Asking About the Status of a Paper . . . . 90 Other Letters . . . . 90 In Summary . . . . 92

Unit V

Attending an International Radiological Course

Introduction . . . . 95 Travel and Hotel Arrangements . . . . 96 Course Example . . . 104

Unit VI

Giving a Radiological Talk

Dos and Don'ts . . . 113 Useful Sentences for Radiological Talks . . . 116 The Dreadful Questions and Comments Section . . . 119

Unit VII

Chairing a Radiological Session

Usual Chairperson's Comments . . . 127 Should Chairpersons Ask Questions? . . . 130 What the Chairperson Should Say when Something is Going Wrong . 130 Specific Radiological Chairperson's Comments . . . 132 Contents

X

Unit VIII

Usual Mistakes Made by Radiologists Speaking and Writing in English

Misnomers and False Friends . . . 137

Common Grammatical Mistakes . . . 138

Common Spelling Mistakes . . . 142

Common Pronunciation Mistakes . . . 143

Unit IX Latin and Greek Terminology Introduction . . . 149

Plural Rules . . . 151

List of Latin and Greek Terms and Their Plurals . . . 152

Unit X Acronyms and Abbreviations Introduction . . . 179

Abbreviation Lists . . . 182

Exercises: Common Sentences Containing Abbreviations . . . 200

Unit XI Describing a Lesion Describing Anatomical Relationships . . . 207

Describing Radiological Findings: Word Order . . . 211

Describing Focal Lesions . . . 212

Unit XII Standard Normal Reports Standard Reports . . . 218

Your First Radiological Reports in English . . . 229 Contents XI

Unit XIII

Reporting in English

Usual Expressions Used in Reporting . . . 233

Dictating a Radiological Report . . . 242

Unit XIV Interventional Radiology Introduction . . . 247

Garments . . . 248

Tools and Devices . . . 249

Talking to the Patient . . . 249

Talking to the Patient's Family . . . 251

Teaching Residents . . . 252

Talking to Nurses . . . 253

Talking to Technologists . . . 254

The IR's Angiographic Equipment . . . 254

Some Common ªOn Callº Orders for Nurse Units . . . 254

Unit XV On Call Common On-Call Sentences . . . 263

On-Call Conversations . . . 265

Additional Call Terms . . . 267

Unit XVI Radiological Management Commonly Used Phrases . . . 272

Big Questions, Easy Answers . . . 272

Glossary . . . 273 Contents

XII

Unit XVII

Radiological Conversation Guide

Conversational Abbreviations . . . 283

Conversational Acronyms . . . 284

Made-Up Words/Definitions/Expressions . . . 285

Conversational Scenarios . . . 286

Unit XVIII Basic Communication Skills in Medicine Greeting and Introducing Yourself . . . 293

Invitation to Describe Symptoms . . . 293

Instructions for Undressing . . . 295

Instructions for Position on Couch . . . 295

Instructions to Get Dressed . . . 296

No Treatment . . . 296

Questions and Commands . . . 296

Common Symptom Areas . . . 297

Key Words Ab out Symptoms and Signs . . . 299

Patient Examination . . . 302

Unit XIX Conversation Survival Guide Introduction . . . 307

Greetings . . . 309

Presentations . . . 309

Personal Data . . . 309

Courtesy Sentences . . . 310

Speaking in a Foreign Language . . . 310

At the Restaurant . . . 311

City Transportation . . . 313

Shopping . . . 313

Cars . . . 319

Having a Drink (or Two) . . . 321

On the Phone . . . 322

Emergency Situations . . . 323

In the Bank . . . 323

At the Police Station . . . 324 Contents XIII

Bang Huynh

Radiology resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital

Boston, MA, USA

Contributed to the preparation of Units V, VIII, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVII, and XVIII

Jos Luis Sancho

Radiologist at Alto Guadalquivir Hospital

AndÙjar (Jan), Spain

Contributed to the preparation of Units II, III, V, XI, XII, XIII, and XIX

Jos MarÌa Vida

Radiologist at Montilla Hospital Montilla (CÕrdoba), Spain Contributed to the preparation of Units VI, VIII, IX, and X Jos MarÌa Martos

Radiology resident at Reina SofÌa Hospital

Cordoba, Spain

Contributed to the preparation of Units II, III, and V

RocÌo DÌaz

Radiology resident at Reina SofÌa Hospital

CÕrdoba, Spain

Contributed to the preparation of Units IX, X, and XVII

Eloisa FeliÙ

Radiologist at INSCANNER Alicante, Spain

Contributed to the preparation of Unit III

Silvia Ondategui-Parra, MD, MPH, MSc

Administration Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Brigham and Women's Hospital Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA

Contributed to the preparation of Unit XVI

Antonio Luna

Radiologist at ClÌnica Las Nieves Jan, Spain

Contributed to the preparation of Unit IV

Pedro Aranda

Cardiovascular Surgeon at Carlos Haya Hospital

M—laga, Spain

Contributed to the preparation of Unit XVIII

Francisco Muµoz del Castillo Family doctor and ENT Consultant at Reina SofÌa Hospital

CÕrdoba, Spain Drew the cartoons

Contributors