Vocational English for Nurses in Dentistry

Abstract

The South Korean government announced medical tourism as one of the next-generation growth engines. Also, local governments including Daegu, Jeju island and Incheon plan to build a health-care centre to attract foreign patients from US, Japan or China. The majority of medical schools in Korea emphasize English instruction due to the academic purpose of reading textbooks in the target language. Medical specialists, such as nurses, doctors, pharmacists, paramedics or receptionists, however, are usually unable to converse with patients due to the lack of communicative proficiency. So far, medical specialists would not need to learn English because there is a professional translator in a hospital or clinic, or there are separate international hospitals or sections for foreigners. It is essential, however, to build communicative skills in a second language to accommodate foreign patients as this would ensure greater efficiency in health care delivery as well as controlling costs.