This volume is the first to address multilingual healthcare communication around the globe and focuses on institutional, social and linguistic challenges and resources of the healthcare industry. It comprises studies from Canada, Australia, South Africa, Greenland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, and aims to introduce new paths of communicative and methodological agendas, casting a critical view on current linguistic practices in healthcare, nursing and medical interactions. With increased personal mobility in a global society, the need for multilingual staff is on the rise in medical institutions and healthcare organisations, and communicative competencies and practices involving different languages pose challenges for medical doctors, healthcare staff and patients alike. Many studies have highlighted the crucial role played by interpreters and interpreting staff, but the diversity of language situations in different countries requires very different approaches and solutions. Additionally, it may not be possible to develop a single agenda of language services for different medical areas with different needs for counselling, with various forms of treatment that require explanation and the patient‘s informed consent and with varying approaches to the relationship between medical professionals and patients. How to best organise medical (digital) language services in countries as different as South Africa, Greenland, Germany, Belgium and Australia calls for a diversity of possible solutions. The current volume makes a variety of such solutions and practices available for medical staff and healthcare institutions faced with international patients and working with international medical staff. It makes the challenges palpable on an international scale in a way that comparisons may be drawn between different solutions as well as their socio-cultural and institutional implications. This volume is intended for policy makers, medical and healthcare practitioners, institutions, interpreters, teachers and students in professional multilingual healthcare.

Global migration continues to increase, and with it comes increasing linguistic diversity. This presents obvious challenges for both healthcare provider and patient, and the chapters in this volume represent a range of international perspectives on language barriers in health care. A variety of factors influence the best ways of approaching and overcoming these language barriers, including cultural, geographical, political and practical considerations, and as a result a range of approaches and solutions are suggested and discussed. The authors in this volume discuss a wide range of countries and languages, and cover issues that will be familiar to all healthcare practitioners, including the role of informal interpreters, interpreting in a clinical setting, bilingual healthcare practitioners and working with languages with comparatively small numbers of speakers.

An interdisciplinary overview of theory, history, and leading research in the field With a joint linguistic and medical perspective, The Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare explores innovative approaches for improving clinical education, clinician-patient communication, assessment, and mass communication. Contributions by a diverse panel of experts address a wide range of key topics, including language concordance in clinical care, medical interpreting, the role of language as a social determinant of health, reaching linguistically diverse audiences during public health crises, assessing clinician language skills, and more. Organized into five parts, the Handbook covers the theory, history, and context of linguistics, language interpretation and translation, language concordance, medical language education pedagogy, and mass communication of health information with linguistically diverse populations. Throughout the text, detailed chapters present solutions and strategies with the potential to improve the health and healthcare of linguistically diverse populations worldwide. In an increasingly multilingual, global society, language has become a critical area of interest for advancing public health and healthcare. The Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare: Helps professionals integrate language-appropriate communication in healthcare settings Addresses clinician-patient communication, assessment, research, and mass public health communication Offers key theoretical insights that inform the intersection of language, public health, and healthcare Highlights how various approaches in the field of linguistics have enriched public health and healthcare practices The Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare is essential reading for undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional students of applied linguistics, health communication, and medicine. It is also an invaluable reference for language educators, clinicians, medical educators, linguists, health policy experts, and researchers.

Natural Language Processing In Healthcare: A Special Focus on Low Resource Languages covers the theoretical and practical aspects as well as ethical and social implications of NLP in healthcare. It showcases the latest research and developments contributing to the rising awareness and importance of maintaining linguistic diversity. The book goes on to present current advances and scenarios based on solutions in healthcare and low resource languages and identifies the major challenges and opportunities that will impact NLP in clinical practice and health studies.

With an increasing migrant population there is a growing need to organize interpreting practices in healthcare in order to deliver equitable high-quality care. This thesis focuses on healthcare institutions’ organization of interpreting services. The aim of the study was to explore interpreting practices in a healthcare context by comparing two different healthcare areas – elderly and emergency healthcare. The study aimed to highlight the impact of the organizational and institutional context. This study was designed as an explorative and descriptive qualitative study including 79 healthcare professionals with experience of interpreting practices recruited via purposeful sampling in elderly and emergency healthcare. Data were collected through individual and focus-group interviews and analysed with inductive qualitative content analysis. The main findings show that the processes and structures around interpreting practices were complex and mainly linked to individual and interpersonal levels and, to a limited extent, to the institutional level. On the institutional level the Public Procurement Act was the only formal policy to follow. On individual and interpersonal level interpreting practices were structured by self-established informal workplace routines developed by the professional groups. The norms and routines used was determined by access to interpreters, time aspects, characteristics of the care given, health conditions and the person’s problem, expectations and requests from the person and also from healthcare professionals. There were wishes for improvement, with better flexibility in access to professional interpreters, training for users and interpreters, and also better technical solutions and equipment. In conclusion, the use of interpreters was rooted in the organizational environment of interpreting practice, including the availability of laws, policy and guidelines, and closely related to individuals’ language skills, cultural values and social factors. The use of professional interpreters was based on the nature of care in context and access to interpreters and determined by health professionals’ estimation of the person’s current health status in order to deliver fast and individualized care based on humanistic values. Thus, it is important to consider organizational framework and cultural awareness when formulating interpreting practices adapted to the context, and formal guidelines in order to achieve the aim of personcentered and equal health care.

Language, Health and Culture brings together contributions by linguistic scholars working in the area of health communication in Asia—in particular, in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan. Olga Zayts-Spence and Susan M. Bridges, along with the contributors, draw on a diverse range of authentic data from different (primary, secondary, digital) healthcare contexts across Asia. The contributions probe empirical analyses and meta-reflections on the empirical, epistemological and theoretical foundations of doing research on language and health communication in Asia. While many of the medical and technological advances originate from the ‘non-English-dominant’/‘peripheral’ contexts, when it comes to health communication, there is a strong tendency to downplay and marginalize the scope and the impact of the ripe research tradition in these contexts. The contributions to the edited volume problematize the hegemony of dominant (Anglocentric) traditions in health communication research by highlighting culture- and context-specific ways of interpreting different health realities through linguistic lenses.

Jack Pun’s book offers up the latest research in a variety of health communication settings to highlight the cultural differences between the East and the West. It focuses on the various clinical strands in health communication such as doctor-patient interactions, nurse handover, and cross-disciplinary communication to provide a broad, comprehensive overview of the complexity and heterogeneity of health communication in the Chinese context, which is gradually moving beyond a preference for Western-based models to one that considers the local culture in understanding and interpreting medical encounters. The content highlights the cultural difference between the East and the West, and focuses on how traditional Chinese values underpin the nature of clinical communication in various clinical settings and how Chinese patients and practitioners conduct themselves during medical encounters. The book also covers various topics that are unique to Chinese contexts such as the use of traditional Chinese medicine in primary care, and how clinicians translate Western models of communication when working in Chinese contexts with Chinese patients. This volume will appeal to researchers working in health communication in both the East and West as well as clinicians interested in understanding what makes effective communication with multicultural patient cohorts.

The Medical Language Instant Translator, 5th Edition equips you with the quick-reference information you need to understand even the most complicated and specialized medical terminology. This handy pocket book gives you instant access to everything from the top 100 prescription drugs to medical abbreviations, symbols, and acronyms. Based on Chabner's The Language of Medicine, this practical resource is ideal for any health care environment. Quick, portable access to key medical terms and other need-to-know information. Common diagnostic tests and procedures. Easily confused medical terms. Overview of body systems anatomy with full-color illustrations. Medical abbreviations, acronyms, symbols and more! NEW! Updated terms and definitions. NEW! Updated topics, including professional organizations and diagnostic categories.

This edited volume brings together diverse international perspectives on the growing worldwide phenomenon of Medical English as a lingua franca, where speakers of other first languages use English as a vehicle for medical communication. A subset of the larger field of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), only a handful of studies of healthcare ELF communication have been published previously, despite its global expansion and potential impacts upon quality healthcare and patient safety. This book is inherently interdisciplinary nature, intersecting fields such as applied linguistics, English language teaching, medical education, and healthcare communication. The contributors and their research settings represent multiple national and linguistic backgrounds, and bring perspectives from their professional lives as healthcare workers and educators, and as language teachers and researchers. This volume contributes to filling a gap at the intersection of ELF and healthcare communication, and thus represents an area of study accessible to a broad range of professionals from numerous disciplines, and one that can be of benefit to multiple stakeholders: researchers, educators, healthcare institutions, and practitioners, as well as patients and their family members. The topics discussed in these pages will be of importance to a wide audience of readers, since accurate communication is at the centre of quality healthcare delivery.

Unleash the power of medical language and explore the wonders of the human body with the Comprehensive Guide to Medical Terminology & Anatomy. From the foundations to mastery, this all-encompassing guide simplifies the complexities of medical terminology, equipping learners of all levels with the tools to decode the language of healthcare professionals. Journey through the intricacies of prefixes, roots, and suffixes, mastering the building blocks of medical terms. Unlock the world of medical abbreviations, ensuring you're fluent in the shorthand of healthcare documentation. Delve into the systems of the human body—the skeletal system, muscular system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, nervous system, endocrine system, reproductive system, urinary system, and integumentary system—unraveling their functions and terminology. Prepare for real-world application with practical tests, case studies, and examples. Sharpen your skills in anatomical terminology, positions, and planes, enabling precise communication and accurate documentation. Navigate the intricacies of medical specialties, comprehending their unique focus areas and the importance of specialized terminology. Whether you're a student embarking on a medical career or a healthcare professional seeking to enhance your knowledge, this guide is your comprehensive companion. Master medical language, decipher complex terminology, and unlock a deeper understanding of the human body. Embark on this transformative educational journey, armed with the Comprehensive Guide to Medical Terminology & Anatomy. Transcend language barriers, confidently communicate, and contribute to the seamless delivery of quality healthcare. The world of medical language and anatomy awaits—embrace its mysteries and unlock your potential.