Problem
You don't have a chance to speak to your loved one on the phone. Check what the country's hospitals provide and ask what your loved one needs.
Answers
SPAIN
My Spanish friend has flown back to Spain from the UK three times in the past twelve months to look after her mother in hospital. My friend says that Spanish hospitals expect relatives to come to hospital and stay on hand. Whilst the nurses do medical procedures, relatives are expected to be there to do things like helping patients to eat and clean their teeth.
UK
Many UK NHS (National Health Service) hospitals are run on different lines. Visitors are discouraged from visiting outside restricted times in afternoons or evenings. Staff seem to regard visitors as a nuisance, bringing in infections, sitting on sterile beds in outdoor clothes, obstructing access to beds, creating noise so other patients cannot sleep or be heard or noticed, getting in the way of the morning doctors' rounds.
Car parking is expensive and car park spaces often in short supply, discouraging long visits by family and by the elderly. This discourages visits from spouses and friends of the elderly (who form a large proprotion of both short and long stay patients, in every deparment except maternity and chidlren's wards).
CORSICAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN & RADIO
I was in hospital with multiple injuries after being knocked down by a car in Corsica. I spoke fluent French, which wasn't much help as most people, patients and staff, spoke Italian. If I had my life all over again I would learn German, Russian, Spanish and Italian non-stop in all my free time from primary school onwards. Never mind crosswords, TV, anything else. Just learn languages.
Radio
I was bored after the first 24 hours and asked for a radio. I was told the radios were downstairs and was promised I could have one. I was taken to the ground floor for an x-ray and when I came back, still no radio. Eventually, I discovered that radio was short for radiography in Italian hospital language, and they had thought I wanted an X-ray.
Whether you are a patient or a visitor, just being able to say hello and please and thank you makes staff more ready to stop and listen to you.
Learn Languages Now
Don't wait until you get called to visit a hospital to start learning the language on the plane. Start learning the language of the country where your spouse or parent or child or relative or colleague is living now. Then if you ever get called over in an emergency, you will be ready.
MEDICAL ENGLISH
Check the English, too. I recall driving all around a hospital not knowing which department to attend when my doctor sent me for a blood test. No sign said blood tests. You might need a department called pathology or phlebotomy.
We also drove all the way round Barnet hospital trying to find the mortuary to view my uncle's body. We didn't see any sign saying helpful things in plain language such as: Your Dead Relatives Are Here. No sign saying Living relatives, turn right, for dead relatives turn left. Not even 'mortuary'. Might upset the living.
The word pathology comes from the Greek word pathos, meaning suffering or disease.
If you look up the hospital map online, you can then see what they call the various departments.
If grandchildren or children or nieces and nephews are likely to visit, they also need to understand the lingo. As a teenager I would not have understood the words:
audiology (hearing tests);
geriatric (elderly)
gynecology (connected with women), which is spelled differently in the USA and UK.
infirmary (hospital),
physiotherapy (exercises),
renal (kidneys).
I recall being baffled by the sign A and E (accident and emergency). If you take a local taxi they are more likely to know the outpatients or accident areas. Taking an ambulance rather than driving yourself ensures you rush through the traffic and go straight to the right department.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Blogs posts about travelling which are educational and entertaining. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.
You don't have a chance to speak to your loved one on the phone. Check what the country's hospitals provide and ask what your loved one needs.
Answers
SPAIN
My Spanish friend has flown back to Spain from the UK three times in the past twelve months to look after her mother in hospital. My friend says that Spanish hospitals expect relatives to come to hospital and stay on hand. Whilst the nurses do medical procedures, relatives are expected to be there to do things like helping patients to eat and clean their teeth.
UK
Many UK NHS (National Health Service) hospitals are run on different lines. Visitors are discouraged from visiting outside restricted times in afternoons or evenings. Staff seem to regard visitors as a nuisance, bringing in infections, sitting on sterile beds in outdoor clothes, obstructing access to beds, creating noise so other patients cannot sleep or be heard or noticed, getting in the way of the morning doctors' rounds.
Car parking is expensive and car park spaces often in short supply, discouraging long visits by family and by the elderly. This discourages visits from spouses and friends of the elderly (who form a large proprotion of both short and long stay patients, in every deparment except maternity and chidlren's wards).
CORSICAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN & RADIO
I was in hospital with multiple injuries after being knocked down by a car in Corsica. I spoke fluent French, which wasn't much help as most people, patients and staff, spoke Italian. If I had my life all over again I would learn German, Russian, Spanish and Italian non-stop in all my free time from primary school onwards. Never mind crosswords, TV, anything else. Just learn languages.
Radio
I was bored after the first 24 hours and asked for a radio. I was told the radios were downstairs and was promised I could have one. I was taken to the ground floor for an x-ray and when I came back, still no radio. Eventually, I discovered that radio was short for radiography in Italian hospital language, and they had thought I wanted an X-ray.
Whether you are a patient or a visitor, just being able to say hello and please and thank you makes staff more ready to stop and listen to you.
Learn Languages Now
Don't wait until you get called to visit a hospital to start learning the language on the plane. Start learning the language of the country where your spouse or parent or child or relative or colleague is living now. Then if you ever get called over in an emergency, you will be ready.
MEDICAL ENGLISH
Check the English, too. I recall driving all around a hospital not knowing which department to attend when my doctor sent me for a blood test. No sign said blood tests. You might need a department called pathology or phlebotomy.
We also drove all the way round Barnet hospital trying to find the mortuary to view my uncle's body. We didn't see any sign saying helpful things in plain language such as: Your Dead Relatives Are Here. No sign saying Living relatives, turn right, for dead relatives turn left. Not even 'mortuary'. Might upset the living.
The word pathology comes from the Greek word pathos, meaning suffering or disease.
If you look up the hospital map online, you can then see what they call the various departments.
If grandchildren or children or nieces and nephews are likely to visit, they also need to understand the lingo. As a teenager I would not have understood the words:
audiology (hearing tests);
geriatric (elderly)
gynecology (connected with women), which is spelled differently in the USA and UK.
infirmary (hospital),
physiotherapy (exercises),
renal (kidneys).
I recall being baffled by the sign A and E (accident and emergency). If you take a local taxi they are more likely to know the outpatients or accident areas. Taking an ambulance rather than driving yourself ensures you rush through the traffic and go straight to the right department.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Blogs posts about travelling which are educational and entertaining. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.
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