Episode 0046

And I'm Erica.

And today we're going to be talking about an ER, an emergency room.

Yeah, doctor shows are very popular with people, medical terms and all that stuff.

Yeah, so we're going to teach you some words that you might hear commonly in medical shows on TV or in movies. Um, this is really common language in television.

Or even at a hospital, right?

Well, yeah, but let's hope our listeners don't have to face this.

Okay, so let's preview some words in vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right, so what's our first word?

Okay, the first word is CPR.

CPR.

CPR.

So that's pretty easy. What does that mean?

Um, well, it it's short for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Okay.

Uh, if that means anything to you?

Well, cardio is related to the heart.

Uh-huh.

Pulmonary refers to the lungs.

Yep.

Resuscitation means to come back to life.

Yes.

So, basically CPR is, um, you know, when someone stops breathing, you put your mouth on their mouth and you breathe inside their lungs.

Okay, to give them air.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

So CPR.

That's CPR. Okay.

So let's take a look at our next word. BP.

BP.

So BP is short for

Blood pressure.

Blood pressure. That's just the way the doctors use it in the emergency room.

Exactly, pretty simple.

Okay, so blood pressure.

And our last word, acute respiratory failure.

Acute respiratory failure.

So what is that exactly? That sounds complicated.

Um, basically, it's really serious, that you stopped breathing.

You stop breathing.

Yeah.

Okay. So if you go into acute respiratory failure, then the doctor or somebody has to perform CPR.

Right.

Okay, so we've, so we've previewed these three great words. Now let's listen to our dialogue for the first time. It's going to be really fast and you're going to have a lot of drama in it, so, uh, don't worry if you don't understand everything.

Yeah, we're going to come back and teach you some of the important language.

Ellen, get him hooked up to a monitor.

Get the patient to hold still.

Okay, he's on the monitor.

I've got a pulse.

Okay, what's happening?

Patient is in acute respiratory failure. I think we're going to have to intubate.

All right.

Tubes in.

Somebody give him 10 CC's, shot of adrenaline.

We've managed to stabilize Frankie, but he's not out of the woods yet.

He's still in critical condition.

We're moving him to intensive care, but

Yeah, a little pet, hey?

A little pet, the little hamster.

Well, um, you know what, I can relate to this owner and um, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about that later.

Yeah, I know you have a really good story about this.

Yeah. But in the meantime, let's look at some great language in language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

All right, so let's take a look at our first word.

Intubate.

Intubate.

Intubate.

Intubate.

So this is a medical procedure.

Exactly. Um, when a patient can't breathe properly, sometimes the doctor takes a long tube and puts it into their mouth and down their pipes, I guess, down their breathing tube so that they can breathe better.

Okay, so that's to intubate.

Yes.

Okay, so once they've intubated the patient, they start to bag him.

Yeah, bag him.

Bag him.

Bag him.

Does that mean they like put a bag over the person's head or something?

No, no, no.

So, there's a bag attached to this intubation tube. And you squeeze it to put air into the lungs.

Okay, so you squeeze this bag and it puts air through the tube.

I think this is just medical slang.

Yeah, I guess bag him.

Yeah, but you hear it all the time when TV. So it's important our listeners know it.

Okay.

Let's look at our next word. Critical condition.

Critical condition.

Critical condition.

The patient's in critical condition.

This condition means it's serious.

Right. If a patient is in critical condition, uh, they're either really, really hurt, um, or really, really sick and they could die pretty soon.

Okay.

So, you don't want to be in critical condition.

No.

Let's take a look at our next word. Stabilize.

Stabilize.

Stabilize.

Stabilize.

So when the doctor stabilizes a patient, they take that patient out of danger.

Exactly. When a patient is stabilized, um, they probably won't die in five minutes.

Okay.

But they could still be really sick, they could be in critical condition, right?

But it's under control.

Exactly.

Okay. Yeah. Stabilize.

Let's look at our last word. ICU.

ICU.

ICU.

Intensive Care Unit.

Okay. That's what it means. Intensive Care Unit. So that's the place where patients who are in critical condition are taken.

Right.

So what's the difference between an ICU and a regular room?

Well, I don't know, I've never been in one. Um, but I think like patients are monitored uh regularly and I think there's, you know, maybe more maybe there are more nurses and fewer patients, there's just a higher level of care.

A higher level of care.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay, so it's time for us to listen to our dialogue again. Now try to catch all of these medical terms that we've just talked about and then we'll come back and explain a few phrases.

Ellen, get him hooked up to a monitor.

Get the patient to hold still.

Okay, he's on the monitor.

I've got a pulse.

Okay, what's happening?

The patient is in acute respiratory failure. I think we're going to have to intubate.

All right.

Tubes in.

Somebody give him 10 CC's, shot of adrenaline.

We've managed to stabilize Frankie, but he's not out of the woods yet.

He's still in critical condition.

We're moving him to intensive care, but

Okay, so there were some really good phrasal verbs in this dialogue.

Yeah, a couple of good phrasal verbs.

Okay, so let's take a look at these phrasal verbs in putting it together.

Putting it together.

All right, so what's our first phrasal verb today?

Hook up.

Hook up.

Hook up.

So to hook up.

So when we, when we talk about hooking something up, um, we are usually talking about electronics, right, Marco?

Yeah, you usually hook up your TV or your computer.

So why don't we listen to some examples of how we would use hook up?

Example one.

Example two.

I don't know how to hook up this new DVD player. Can you help me?

Example three.

Great. So you can see that there are a few different um, variations of this pattern here with the word hook up because it's a phrasal verb.

Exactly.

And I think the same pattern can apply to our next phrasal verb.

Hold still.

Hold still.

Hold still.

Hold still.

So the doctor needed the patient to hold still.

Right, to stop moving.

Stop moving, exactly.

Okay, let's listen to some more examples of hold still because again, it's a really great phrasal verb that you can change up a little bit.

Example one.

If you don't hold still, I can't see if you have something in your eye.

Example two.

Hold still while she cuts your hair, or else she might make a mistake.

Example three.

Hold still, you have a bee on your back.

Okay, hold still. Great word.

Yep.

All right, one final phrase for you, out of the woods.

Out of the woods.

Out of the woods.

Out of the woods.

So when someone's out of the woods, they're free from danger.

Uh-huh. Safe.

Okay, safe. Yeah.

I guess it's kind of a saying. Like, I'm out of the woods, I'm, I'm free, I'm, I'm safe.

I guess there are two variants of this phrase. We can say, I'm out of the woods, or we're out of the woods, or, I guess we're not out of the woods yet.

Uh-huh. So.

Okay. Out of the woods.

Okay, so now it's time for us to listen to our dialogue again. And when we come back, Eric is going to tell us about her ER story.

Ellen, get him hooked up to a monitor.

Get the patient to hold still.

Okay, he's on the monitor.

I've got a pulse.

Okay, what's happening?

Patient is in acute respiratory failure. I think we're going to have to intubate.

All right.

Tubes in.

Somebody give him 10 CC's, shot of adrenaline.

We've managed to stabilize Frankie, but he's not out of the woods yet.

He's still in critical condition.

We're moving him to intensive care, but

Okay, Erica, so what happened? What emergency did you have?

Well, it was with my cat.

Your cat.

Yes. I had some people over for dinner and uh, it was maybe 1:30 in the morning and I went downstairs to let them out um and show them where the taxis were and then I came up and I saw that the cat was gone. Um, and it turned out that the cat fell out of the window.

Fell out of the window.

Yeah.

All right, but our listeners have to know what story or what floor do you live on?

Uh, the 20th floor.

The 20th.

Yeah, so this is really dangerous, right?

That's really high up.

How did you know he fell out?

I just knew.

Yeah.

Mother's instinct.

I guess so. And so he was, he was calling back to me and picked him up and brought him to the house and we had to bring him to the vet and it was, you know, 2:30, 3:00 in the morning at this time and the vet was like not very happy that we woke him up out of bed.

But that was a really good emergency though.

Yeah, and so he was in the hospital for three weeks and then at home on bed rest for another three weeks. But now he's good as new.

Yeah.

He used up one of his uh, seven lives.

Wow, that's an interesting story. I guess uh, that's the inspiration under this uh dialogue.

Exactly. Sometimes uh, we Anglos really treat our cats and our hamsters and our dogs like they're our children, you know?

Yeah, yeah, no, that's good.

So maybe our users have some stories about uh, their pets being taken to the hospital.

Yeah, that should be interesting. I've never had a pet actually uh break a leg or anything. So I don't have any pet stories this time, but we want to hear what you think. So come to Englishpod.com, leave all your questions and comments and your stories.

Yes.

And we'll be there to answer them.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

CPR.

Hook up.

Pulse.

BP.

Flatline.

Critical condition.

ICU.

ER.

Defibrillator.

Chest compressions.

Let's try that faster.

ICU.

Critical condition.

Defibrillator.

Pulse.

ER.

Hook up.

BP.

Flatline.

Chest compressions.

CPR.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Hook up.

Hook up.

I don't know how to hook up this new DVD player. Can you help me?

Hook up.

If you don't hold still, I can't see if you have something in your eye.

Hold still while she cuts your hair, or else she might make a mistake.

Hold still. You have a bee on your back.

The patient is unconscious and not breathing. We have to intubate.

His throat is obstructed and he's not breathing. We're going to have to intubate.

We need to stabilize the patient before we can put him in the ambulance.

Your husband has been stabilized and the bleeding has stopped.

The first person to treat an injured person must try and stabilize him before he can be moved.

Critical condition.

The patient is in critical condition, so we need to keep him here for a few weeks.

Critical condition.

Critical condition.