Professional English. Medicine.

NF2. Signs and

symptoms
MP 13
Health documentation and
África Motes García
administration
1. Introduction to
Health and Illness If you are in good health, you
are well and have no illness
(disease). If you are healthy
ASKING ABOUT HEALTH
you are normally well and can
resist illness.
Health is the state of the body.

When doctors or healthcare

Not ill Ill
professionals want to know about a
patient's usual health, they ask Healthy Unhealthy
questions such as: Fit Unfit
What is your Well Unwell
How's your general health Very well Not well
health, like? In good health Poorly
generally? In poor health
 SICKNESS
How can the Possible
Sickness has a similar meaning to illness.
patient say it? meanings

It's also used in the names of a few specific I was sick I was ill this morning
diseases, for example sleaping sickness and travel I felt unwell this morning
this morning
sickness. I vomited this morning

Technically patients also talk about sickness when

they mean nausea and vomiting.

I fell ill
I feel sick I feel unwell
Depending on the sickness that the
I am nauseous
patient has, it may present I fell the need to vomit
different SIGNS and SYMPTOMS
1.1. Complete the table with the corresponding adjectives for each noun
1.2. Complete the conversation with with the vocabulary we have worked on
so far.
Doctor: How are you feelling today?
Patient: Not very (1) ............................ .
Doctor: How long have you been feeling (2) ................................... ?
Patient: About a week.
Doctor: What is your (3) ........................... like normally?
Patient: Very good. I'm usually quite (4) .................... and (5) ........................ .
Doctor: What is the problem now?
Patient: It's my stomach.
Doctor: Do you feel (6) ................................... ?
Patient: Yes.
Doctor: Have you actually been (7) ............................ ?
Patient: No.
Doctor: Have you had any serious (8) ............................... in the past?
Patient: No, none at all.
 RECOVERY
When patient retorn to normal health after illness, they have recovered.

IMPROVING : the patient's health is in the process of returning to normal

DETERIORATING

He got over
the illness
In SPEECH, we often use the verb get to talk about change: very quickly

RELAPSED?

REMISSION? Two years later she

remains in complete
remission
1.1. Make word combination using a word from each box.
COMPLETE SICKNESS
FEEL HEALTH
GET REMISSION
POOR SICK
TRAVEL OVER

1.1. Choose the correct word to complete each sentence.

1. Her condition ............................. (deteriorated/improved( and she died.
2. He ..................... (relapsed/recovered) and was allowed to go home from
hospital
3. The cause of sleeping ................. (illness/sickness) was discovered in 1901.
4. The patient made a full ............................. (remission/recovery).
5. I have been in ............. (poor/good) health for months and feel very fit.
6. It was a month before I ...... ........ (got over/ got better) the illness.
7. He seems to be rather ...... (unhealthy/unwell) - his diet is bad and he
never exercises.
Talking about
symptoms and signs

DESCRIBING PROBLEMS PRESENTATION

SIGNS: what the doctor Doctor say the patient presented

finds = findings The symptom which causes a
patient to visit a doctor- or to
SYMPTOMS: the present- is called the presenting
problems which a patient symptom, presenting complaint or
reports to the doctor presentation.
=complaints