【文稿】英语词汇小百科第九期：general practitioner

HY: Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of Round Table, word of the week. I’m Heyang. XH: And this is Xiao Hua. 这周我们讨论的词汇呢跟医疗有关，because we previously talked about the underdeveloped situation of China’s community hospitals and community doctors. HY: Let’s start with the term community hospital. A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public, and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, in a cost-effective setting, and also focuses on preventing illnesses as on treating them. XH: Community hospital 实际上就是社区医院的意思，只不过在中国社区医疗真的是不太发达。So you may have those community hospitals but they may not be able to treat anything basically. Maybe they are able to give you shots but not on a variety diseases. HY: Yes, so it seems like there is a difference in the role played by the general practitioner, a doctor based in the community who treats patients with minor or chronic illnesses and refers those with serious conditions to a hospital. Their duties are not confined to specific organs of the body, and they have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues. They are trained to treat patients of any age and sex. XH: General practitioner这个词其实我以前一直以为它就是指全科医生，后来才知道它是指大多是在社区医疗卫生机构工作的全科医师，他可以治一点小病，如果你的病是比如说像骨折，或者需要住院的疾病就会把你推荐到大的医院去接受更系统的治疗。So I guess that is what it means. HY: Yes, since the 1950s, general practitioner or general medicine has become its own brunch of medicine by its own right. XH: Also there is a word that has a similar meaning but maybe not exactly the same that’s family doctor. We also hear this word quite often. HY: A family doctor is a synonymous term used in many countries as to a general practitioner. But in the US, after 1970s, the two terms mean differently. A physician who specializes in "family medicine" must now complete a residency in family medicine, and must be eligible for a board recognition. XH: 所以family doctor 在美国也是自成一体的一个另外的体系。跟general practitioner 有一点点的区别。Back to China, I don’t think China has an established system for either general practitioners or family doctors. So this is an area that we still need to see a lot of development. HY: Yes, we operate under a very different kind of system and it is confusing for a lot of people because when you go to the hospital in China, you might be not know which specific office you should be registering with. And also there is no family doctor to oversee your health in a long term either. XH: Exactly in all the responsibility of a general practitioner or a family doctor. HY: That’s all the time we have for this week’s word of the week. I hope you had a good time and having a weekend. We will see you next time.