Using Podcasts to Support Medical English Learning

Helena Docherty, Freelance, Sheffield, UK 

The importance of communication in a healthcare context

It is widely recognised that effective communication is a fundamental part of delivering quality healthcare. It is also something, which is complex and multifaceted, changing depending on individual needs (Danaher et al, 2023). One of my favourite modules in my Nursing MSc was titled: ‘Effective Communication and Care Delivery’, which reflects the intrinsic relationship between these two concepts. Having spent three years studying the sounds, history and significance of language across society and as someone who loves ‘to chat’ and make connections with people, I put a great deal of pressure on myself to do well in this part of the course. It was, however, harder than I anticipated, and I remember how nervous I felt before the practical assessment, which involved interacting with an actor in a scenario given just moments before.

In my experience working with international nurses, the speaking and listening elements of the OET (Occupational English Test) they are required to pass in order to practice in an English-speaking country seem to be the sections they want most support with. As Rebecca Bush wrote previously in this newsletter, skills that are important to patients, such as expressing empathy and showing that we value their preferences are not easily gained through mainstream ESL methods or tests.

The fact that future healthcare professionals training in their first language must study and practice these skills shows that it is not an innate ability. There is a wealth of publications and research on this topic, and it is something that healthcare workers are encouraged to make part of their professional reflections in order to continuously improve this skill.

With this in mind, it is understandable that this is an area where international healthcare workers seek support and feel anxiety over making errors.

International Healthcare Workers in the UK

The UK has become increasingly reliant on overseas health and care workers. To use nursing as an example, in 2022, half of the nurses that joined the professional register had trained outside of the UK (NMC, 2022).

Nursing is a challenging profession, and additional challenges are faced by international nurses. For example, finding time to continue their English studies when they arrive in the UK alongside the logistics of moving to a new country. In the International Nursing Review Journal, Pung and Goh (2017) argued that more could be done to support this population and that a conscious effort is required to help facilitate cultural and linguistic orientation. Moreover, there is a direct correlation between these nurses feeling supported and their work satisfaction, wellbeing and their capacity to take opportunities to develop professionally, all things that lead to increased staff retention.

Having an awareness of this was one reason I started to think about creating a tool that could help international healthcare workers with their English and cultural health references. Something that would be part of the movement that acknowledges how hard they work to deliver care in their second language.

To inform this, I interviewed a number of qualified nurses from India working in a care home in my hometown of Sheffield. One topic that came up was the importance of feeling part of the community in which they are living and working. To do this, their confidence to interact using colloquial language is important. The range in expressions and geographically specific lexis across the UK is huge. It’s something I noticed myself, completing my nurse training in a different part of Yorkshire to where I grew up. Whilst only one hour away by car, the difference in my accent and lack of understanding of certain phrases was something noticeable and was commented on more than once.

Therefore, being able to show that this obstacle was valued, and creating something that reflected the nuances and variations in UK English, also became a goal.

Benefits of podcasts in language acquisition

The view of podcasts as an educational tool is becomingly increasingly recognised; in particular, the informal and autonomous learning they can facilitate outside of the classroom that supplements more traditional learning and preparation for assessment (Hasan & Hoon, 2013).

As a second language learner of Spanish, I have direct experience of the benefits of using language podcasts to further my learning. The advantages include the flexibility of how and where they can be consumed. I feel they have increased my familiarity with the sounds of Spanish, developed my pronunciation, my vocabulary, and my comprehension. I like that there is the option to use transcripts as a basis to build more detailed study (not that I take advantage of this potential enough). There is something both motivating and exciting about losing yourself in a podcast episode in your target language. To realise you’ve reached the end without stopping and have understood enough to get the main message can be very rewarding.

Designing a podcast for healthcare workers

Deciding on an angle for my own language learning podcast involved a process of focusing on key principles taught throughout my CELTA, speaking with doctors and nurses who have moved to the UK, and a look at what already existed, all of which helped me to arrive at the current format.

Perhaps the most significant was a conversation with a doctor from the Ukraine. He described how he was confident in his medical terminology, explaining procedures and tests, diagnosis, and presentations (the things we might most readily classify as ‘Medical English’). However, when faced with a native English speaker explaining their own health; their unique definitions of symptoms, when it started, the story of how they got there, the impact it as on their day-to-day life, and the pace at which they might move back and forth between these themes, he felt as if he froze, unable to take anything in to plan genuine person-centred care.

This helped me see the value that people describing their own health in their own words could have in the easily accessible form of a podcast; the thing that can’t be found in Medical English textbooks.

I noted that there was a range of podcasts designed to support learners specifically with preparing for the OET, podcasts that interviewed healthcare workers about their careers, and podcasts of conversations between different healthcare professionals. There are also podcasts that feature people explaining their medical conditions and their experiences, which are extremely useful as authentic language input to increase learners’ knowledge of colloquial terms and increase our appreciation for the different ways health affects people.

I was keen to build on this latter type of podcast and apply an ESL layer to it. As I knew a key aim of the podcast would be improving listening confidence, I worked with the principal that this is achieved most effectively when there is a purpose to a listening exercise.

Each episode sets questions to answer based on the audio and interview format between myself and someone with a story to tell about their health. These are varied to include listening for both gist (to get the general meaning or attitude from what the person is saying) and detail (such as listening out for specific numbers and dates).

I also ask questions that invite learners to think about what they already know about the topic, for example, what symptoms might we hear in this conversation about concussion? Have you ever treated someone with Cron’s disease? The idea behind this being to try and activate existing knowledge.

At the end of each episode, there are recommendations of where to find more information on each medical theme and ideas on how to use the episode to inspire practice in all the language skills, including reading and writing.

Moving forward

There are some drawbacks to podcasts including how visual learners are better supported to access this type of tool. Using podcasts to promote interaction and discussion to increase speaking confidence is also a challenge, and this in part requires the support of international healthcare workers’ employers to provide a safe space and protected time for this to take place. For my own podcast, increasing the diversity of regional accents and including interviews with international participants speaking in English is another objective.

Key messages

This article has aimed to show:

• The communication experienced by service users is an important part of healthcare.
• International healthcare workers face additional challenges.
• Access to resources that enable learners to prepare for their OET alongside a busy work and life schedule is important.
• Post OET, international workers need resources to continue to develop their language skills to fully realise their professional goals.
• Podcasts focused on healthcare topics, which are specifically designed with this community in mind, can provide such resources.

References

Bush, R. (2023). OET - The global English test for healthcare professionals. ESP News. Retrieved from https://mytesol.com

Danaher, T. S., Berry, L. L., & Attai, D. J. (2023). Improving how clinicians communicate with patients: An integrative review and framework. Journal of Service Research, 26(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705231190018

Hasan, M., & Hoon, T. B. (2013). Podcast applications in language learning: A review of recent studies. English Language Teaching, 6(2). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287149938_Podcast_Applications_in_Language_Learning_A_Review_of_Recent_Studies

Nursing and Midwifery Council. (2022). Internationally trained professionals joining the NMC register: 1 April – 31 March 2022. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/2p8efuwt

Pung, L. X., & Goh, Y. S. (2017). Challenges faced by international nurses when migrating: An integrative literature review. International Nursing Review, 64(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12306

Helena graduated in Linguistics and Phonetics from the University of Leeds in 2009 and completed her Nursing MSc at The University of Huddersfield in 2018. She has a CELTA from The University of Sheffield. Helena is fairly new to the ESP community, and at this moment in time, it is not her full-time occupation. However, future episodes of her podcast are planned and seeing the international reach it is having as well as her genuine interest in hearing people’s stories about how their health affects them, motivates her to continue producing it in her free time. To hear her episodes up to now and access the transcripts for free you can visit her website. They are also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.