Medical English Sejour Linguistic to London

Hopeland is pleased to announce that it is currently developing Medical English language trips for previous Hopeland Medical English students.

This is an opportunity to benefit from individually tailored 1:1 Medical English classes with a British native speaker with 17 years NHS experience combined with visits to the largest medical bookshops, speciality specific museums and events in London.

This total immersion in the language will enable students to develop all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) at an accelerated pace.
The student can decide the number of taught hours, the theme of the lessons and the most appropriate venues to visit from a wide variety of options.

For further details, please send me a message at mahdiyahbensaid@hotmail.co.uk

Bare Below the Elbows

Having been in Algeria for 2 years, I was unaware that in late 2007, the Department of Health brought in guidance that all medical personnel should be bare below the elbow without exception. The document itself can be found here: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_078433?IdcService=GET_FILE&dID=162876&Rendition=Web

Although there is no concrete evidence to prove that uniforms can transmit infections from one patient to another, public concern over the superbug MRSA and other hospital acquired infections have prompted this new guidance.

It is my understanding that each hospital is then responsible for managing the situation independently and therefore female muslim health professionals in one hospital may be permitted to wear disposable sleeves or theatre gowns whilst their colleagues in other hospitals are faced with the possibility of losing their jobs.

Although I was unaware of the new guidelines at interview in May, my 17 years nursing experience led me to ask the question as to whether my new Islamic dress code would cause a problem in relation to infection control or health and safety. I was told that they would find out. I heard nothing. On my return to the UK, I again enquired whether this had been investigated and was told they would look into it and let me know. Again, I heard nothing. I rang today to be told that the manager had told her staff not to intervene. I am now waiting for an answer to my question from the human resources department and will keep you posted.

This is a very difficult issue for me as nursing has been my lifelong passion and the thought of giving it up hurts very much but this must be balanced with my belief and so I seek Allah's guidance and insha'Allah kheir.

Teach the Teachers

This is me receiving my certificate following the 'Teaching English for Medicine' course which I attended in Scotland in early August. The course was designed to enable teachers of Medical English to offer the best courses possible based on knowing where to access appropriate resources and how to adapt them to the students needs.
The course will enable me to offer specific sejour linguistique programmes to Algerian doctors wishing to improve their English in the UK their own speciality.

The course was very informative with an expert teacher and ran at the same time as the Edinburgh Festival and Military Tattoo so there was lots to see and do. A great time was had by all!!

Have Your Say!

It is very important for me to ensure that the Medical English Programme at Hopeland Institute remains the most up-to-date and student focused course of it's kind. With this in mind, students are asked to provide an evaluation of the course including what they found good about it and which areas could be improved.

I am proud to include their responses in this post and look forward to working with their suggestions to inform further development of the programme. Thank you to those students who responded.

Student 1:
First of all when I heard about something called Medical English I was surprised and very happy to know that there is such a thing in Algeria, I think that it leads to progress,it leads to be more open to the international community (share experiences,learn from each other...the language is not a barrier anymore),it also helps if/when u want to attend international conferences,use databanks,read articles in English,study abroad...When I came to Hopeland to study Medical English I saw the book and the programme and I loved it, but I knew that I'll not have enough time to come to class at Hopeland because of my studies and because I really wanted to do it and to get a degree in medical English I thought that I should probably think about using the book for self study, but when I came to class I really liked it ,it was not boring at all ,we did a lot of activities, we learn to work in team, we were free to talk ...

Ms Louise you added soooooo much to the course, you added sooo much to us as a MEDICAL English teacher, as an ENGLISH teacher and also as human , sincerely admire you for that.you're a hard worker, perfectionist, open minded and sooooooooooooo gentel .You were very patient to us, and I MEAN IT! You explain and repeat again and again, you never go mad when we make stupid mistakes; you encourage us to do better.you love people thats why they love you so much , actually your the only "foreigner “who says " I love Algeria, I love the weather and the people." Generally Algerians and foreiners are complaining of almost everything in this country!!!! that was what i liked the most about you as a person .now about you as Medical English teacher I'd say again your patience,then the fact that you understand and speak French I think its a big advantage, its very helpful to understand the common mistakes that we make (knowing that we (most of us if not all of us) speak French and THINK in French,thats why sometimes we use French words and expressions to say something in English and ur ability to understand that and deal with it is amazing)Mrs Louise YOU made this course more interresting,cuz you were not teching us just the equivalents of medical terms in English , you teached us HOW to produce the language (thats what you always say and that what you did).

I liked almost everything about the Medical English and you as a teacher ,I know that u're looking for constructive critisism but I really dont find something bad!mmmm or maybe one thing ,in my opinion we should do the ''over to you'' activities as a home work and give it back to you .thats my opinion thats all .

Student 2:
For médical english, I think that your method is gratfull I sware, but if there is anything to add, I think that it will be better if there is more hours for reading and perhaps home work like researches about diseases or... , it helps the student to improve his english because I noticed when I was studying général english at another school 2 years before I began medical english at hopeland that I didn't remember anything when I finished my training so learning english is more easier when it is a way to search something or studying medecine for exemple, it's better to memorise. This is what I think, and I wish you a lot of success.

Student 3:
there a lot that i want to tell you ...;in the first time i was stupified by ur appointement ...and ur energy ...i couldn't explain how you can think about everything even small details .... for me it was wonderful experience to get courses by someone like you .....and especially a native spearker ......i can't ignore that you have search for documents to teach us .....the blue book ..the red and the other ( the small one ) those are well orgonized and very useful ..... what i think could be done is to keep students talk more and more ..............like u said try to chooose hot subjects.......................... coz we dont talk a lot in english.... ur methotodology in teaching is perfect .....you respect high academic rules

in general that was very good experience .........and i want to thank you a lot for being always with us ... to feel what we've been feeling .....and to support us ......you keep us strong "i swear "

Student 4:
The receptionists are kind and answer to all questions. The booking process is easy, your english is estimated, it is fast and it is not expensive.
It was a very interesting group, they were selected according to their medical and english knowledge therefore there was a good ambience. I was satisfied with the resources used during the course, there were many exercises, lots of grammar and vocabulary notes given to us, it was very helpful.
I often use the medical text book to revise my medical english Louise was wonderful with us. We improved our general english and learnt medical english with her, she made us discover the British culture, she gave us self-esteem and confidence with her encouragements.
For me, the timing of the course was perfect, working all week long, I had only my weekends to have class. Have been in that class make me very proud.


Student 5:
I write this email to explain to you my feeling during the medical English courses.
The courses are very interesting but not attractive for me because of the program .
I think that during the inscription you should explain with details the contains of the program, because it’s not really what I’m looking for .I’m not doctor and I’m not student in medicine.
I feel myself very depressed when you explain to me that my level is down ,and that you have to follow the majority of students ( perhaps in public school ,not in private school !)
you can break the motivation of the students …
In this case you have to choice only people with THE level.
I keep thinking that 8 or 7 hours during one day per week is too much .2 *4 hs shoud be better to learn.
I learn a lot of thinks with you,and I spend good times.
You should just keep this word in your mind “motivation”,it’s very important to make people improve themselves.

Student 6:
here are some points :- i noticed that the students' level of english affect negatively on the course,by wasting time in explanation of general english.- i hope to give big time to prononciation of medical words or if possible take as a course.- i think that it's better to have three courses a weed in stead of once 'cause chapters will be less which give students time to research easly.

Medical English Class of 2009 Graduation

Firstly, I would like to say how proud I am of the Medical English graduates.

They have shown true dedication and commitment to the 6 month programme and I have been impressed and inspired by their determination, especially during the past few weeks when they have almost lived at the school in order to achieve the grades they require!!
Some have progressed beyond my wildest imagination through their hard work and perseverance whilst others have provided a constantly high level of performance throughout providing support for their colleagues.

They have been an absolute pleasure to teach and I hope that insha’Allah we will remain in touch in the future so that they can continue to develop their English skills to enable them to achieve their full potential and because I have developed good relationships with many of them and feel like my children are leaving home!!!!
Each and every one of you more than deserves this certificate and I congratulate you all on a job very well done!

As most of you know, I shall be leaving Algeria for a number of months to practice clinically and undergo some training in the UK in order to ensure that Medical English at Hopeland remains the most up-to-date and relevant programme of its kind in Algeria. It is hoped that during this time I can also develop the Advanced Medical English, English for Research and English for Pharmacists Programmes as well as Medical Sejour Linguistique.
Insha’Allah I will be back at the end of the year but would like to wish you all in the interim much success in your continued studies and look forward to hearing from you whilst in the UK!

From Medicine To International Development

Congratulations to all my Medical English students who graduated on Thursday the 16th of July 2009!! I’m so proud of you!
At the graduation ceremony, Dr Lindsay Edouard, Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Algeria, gave a fascinating talk entitled ‘From Medicine to International Development’.

This was followed by a short speech by myself, a presentation of the certificates by Dr Edouard and finally by a reception for further discussion and refreshments. It also gave me the opportunity to take lots of photos which can be found on the Algerian Medics Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103530842894#/group.php?gid=48979073152&ref=ts

Dr Edouard’s talk started with a description of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this acronym reflecting its original name: the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. He focussed largely on its activities in the area of reproductive health.
He challenged the audience to think about the wider perspective of medicine by examining the relevance of public health with its emphasis on epidemiology, a quantitative science which looks at the control and spread of disease, risk factors and how to reduce them. He continued by discussing the rationale for resource allocation so as to meet priority needs of a population.

International health activities are currently guided by the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which range from addressing poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015. These form a blueprint agreed to by all countries and leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
Goal 4 aims to reduce child mortality whereas Goal 5 is for improving maternal health. The following website provides detailed information regarding the goals, specific targets and related documentation: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals

Dr Edouard highlighted that in public health, a small mistake can have major consequences as it affects a large number of individuals as opposed to clinical medicine where a mistake would affect just that individual patient. He also reminded us that once an intervention has been introduced in service delivery, it can be very difficult to modify it. He went further by mentioning the difficulties with the appropriate number and timing of prenatal visits: in implementing the findings of scientific studies for seeking cost-effectiveness, consideration is also given to the need for reassurance through regular check-ups.

For further objective information on the value of interventions in health care, Dr Edouard pointed us towards the websites of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness, a British initiative, at http://www.nice.org.uk and the international Cochrane Collaboration at http://cochrane.co.uk/en/collaboration.html.

Hopeland Institute would like to thank Dr Edouard for his talk and participation in the graduation ceremony as our honoured guest and wish him well in his next post.

AMP Blida

Today, we had the great pleasure to be invited to Club Hippique to discuss the Medical English Programme with doctors in Blida. The day was organised by Dr Amine Rahmi, President of the Association for Private Doctors in the Wilaya of Blida and was kindly sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline.

Dr Rahmi gave a brief introduction which was followed by a presentation on 'Seretide' for the prevention of asthma. Following this, we were treated to a lovely lunch of salad, an assortment of seafood and finally icecream!

It was then my turn to give a presentation on the Medical English Programme run by Hopeland Institute. Having had the opportunity to speak with a number of the doctors on arrival, it dawned on me that their general level was slightly lower than I had been expecting and so I decided to try to give the presentation in French. With powerpoint slides in English and my limited French, I outlined the course contents, materials and assessment process following which, Mr Dib, Director of the school gave a broader view of the activities of the Institute.

Doctors were then given the opportunity to discuss the course with previous Medical English students from Algiers, Jenny Henry (Blida Medical English teacher), myself and Mr Dib over mint tea and coffee.

It was a very interesting and enjoyable day and our thanks, once again, goes to both Dr Rahmi and GSK for organising this event.