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When good enough is no longer good enough (Part 2)

You’ve got the specialised, job-related language down pat (mastered).

You can do the everyday talking with your patients, clients and colleagues pretty well.

Your emails are ok. Although they take longer to write than you’d like.

You can pull together reports. With help.

Yet communicating the important stuff is still a struggle.

Like me trying to stay polite in a heated situation.

The other day I was talking with a doctor from France. She told me that she’s fine with health and medical terminology.

But she often feels challenged when she needs to advise, encourage, explain, instruct, reassure or warn her patients.

With empathy and respect.

When patients are anxious, nervous and stressed.

And she’s under time pressure.

Such as when she had to deal with an older patient who’d made a mistake taking his medication. She felt awkward and he felt uncomfortable.

As a caring health professional, she wants to build rapport with her patients. She’s well aware that what and how you say things can make or break relationships.

So we’re going to work together to take the strain out of communicating in English, so she can put her patients at ease.

As research at Stanford University, reported in The New York Times, has shown: “The simple things a doctor says and does to connect with patients can make a difference for health outcomes”.

Do you also want to perform your work confidently in English?

Let’s talk about how we can collaborate.

Email me to schedule a free discovery call.

© Christina Wielgolawski