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Presented by

Chinese Medical Interest Group at DGSOM

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Introduction to Medical Cantonese

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Lecture 2

Medical Specialty and Pharmacology

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Medical specialties

  • Specialties
  • Specialist
  • Outpatient
  • Inpatient
  • In most of HK/China, no referral is needed to visit specialists in an outpatient setting. So if your patient is unfamiliar with the US system, it may be good idea to explain.

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Common medical specialty

  • Family medicine

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  • Urgent care

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  • Emergency room

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  • Dentistry

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  • Pediatrics

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  • Internal Medicine

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  • General Surgery

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  • ObGyn

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Common medical specialty

  • Cardiology

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  • Neurology

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  • Psychiatry

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  • Oncology

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  • Orthopedics

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  • Ophthalmology

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  • Chinese medicine

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  • Integrative medicine

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Common medical specialty

  • Dermatology

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  • Endocrinology

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  • ENT

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  • Gastroenterology

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  • Allergy and immunology

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  • Anesthesiology

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  • Hospice care, Palliative care

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  • Physical therapy

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Common medical specialty

  • Nurse

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  • Nurse practitioner

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  • Pharmacist

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  • Paramedics

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  • Dietitian

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  • Acupuncturist

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  • Chiropractor

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  • Homeopathy

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Common medical specialty

  • Specify internal medicine or surgery by adding or
    • E.g.
      • The procedure of surgery (instead of the specialty) is
  • Do not confuse (neurology) and (psychiatry).
    • 神经 meaning “nerve”, and 精神 meaning “spirit”.
  • Never call someone or , because both are derogatory terms similar to calling someone “crazy”. Also avoid or which are derogatory as well.
  • Urgent care and Emergency room are commonly the same in HK/China

Lastly, in China urgent care and the emergency room are commonly the same.� So it may be a good idea to explain the difference to your patients.

Urgent care is 緊急護理 gan2 gap1 wu6 lei5.� Emergency room is 急症室 gap1 zing3 sat1.

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  • Medication

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  • Supplement

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  • Pharmacy

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  • Traditional Chinese Medicine

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  • Western Medicine

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  • Prescription / Over the counter

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  • Generic medication

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  • Brand name medication

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  • Side effect

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  • Drug interactions

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Chapter 2: Pharmacology

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  • Dosage

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  • Pill

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  • Capsule

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  • Enteric coated meds

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  • Patch

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  • Cream

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  • Spray

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  • Eyedrop

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  • Intravenous (IV)

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Chapter 2: Pharmacology

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Cultural and translation notes:

  • Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can refer to the knowledge system of Chinese medicine (normal physiology, pathology, diagnosis) or refer to the traditional medications .
    • Use the correct word to translate “Are you seeing a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor?” 你而家有冇睇中醫 (nei5 ji4 gaa1 jau5 mou5 tai2 zung1 ji1?)
  • “Are you taking traditional Chinese medicine?” 你而家有冇食中藥？(nei5 ji4 gaa1 jau5 mou5 sik6 zung1 joek6?)
  • Multiple treatment modalities also exist in TCM, so don’t assume that the patient is taking herbal medicine if they describe that they are getting TCM treatment.

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  • What medications do you take? Do you take them as prescribed?

nei5 ping4 si4 sik6 mat1 je5 joek6 mat6? nei5 jau5 mou5 zyun2 si6 ge3 ji3 sik6 joek6?

你 平 時 食 乜 嘢 藥 物？ 你 有 冇 照 醫 嘅 指 食 藥？

  • What do you take this medication for?

nei5 sik6 ni1 go3 joek6 hai6 wai6 zo2 mat1 je5?

你 食 呢 個 藥 係 為 咗 乜 嘢？

  • When do you take the medications? After waking up? Before bed? Before or after food?

nei5 gei2 si4 sik6 joek6? hei2 san1 zi1 hau6? fan3 gaau3 zi1 cin4?

你 幾 時 食 藥？ 起 身 之 後？ 瞓 覺 之 前？

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  • Do you have any troubles with taking medications?

nei5 jau5 mou5 naan4 dou3 sik6 joek6?

你 有 冇 難 度 食 藥？

  • Do you have any troubles with obtaining medications?

nei5 jau5 mou5 naan4 dou3 ling4 joek6?

你 有 冇 難 度 拎 藥？

  • Do you have a pill box?

nei5 jau5 mou5 joek6 hap6?

你 有 冇 藥 盒？

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  • It sounds like you are reducing the amount of medication you are taking. Can we talk about the reason why?

ting1 hei3 nei5 hai6 gin3 siu3 sik6 joek6 ge3 leong6.

聽 起 你 係 減 少 食 藥 嘅 量。

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ngo5 dei6 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 teng1 nei5 gong2 dim2 gaai2?

我 哋 可 唔 可 以 聽 你 講 點 解？

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Cultural and translation notes:

  • “Medication noncompliance” is a loaded label.
    • Does not understand medication regimen
    • Does not perceive medication to have efficacy
    • Wary to side effect
    • Benefit vs cost
    • Medication management complexity
    • Inaccurate, irrational, conflicting belief

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    • Alternative available

Marcum ZA, Sevick MA, Handler SM. Medication nonadherence: a diagnosable and treatable medical condition. JAMA. 2013;309(20):2105-2106. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.4638

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Conflict of interest

  • No conflict of interest

Credit

  • Text in slides and workbook adapted by Emeline Frank from Medical Mandarin curriculum by Xin Qi
  • Slides by Kaitlyn Kong and Kandace Fung
  • Audio by Kandace Fung