Choosing a specialty

Jill Mathews has just graduated from medical school and is talking about her future.

‘I haven’t decided what to specialize in yet. I need more experience before I decide, but I’ m quite attracted to the idea of paediatrics because I like working withchildren, I’ d certainly prefer to work with children than, say, elderly patients – so I don’t fancy geriatrics. I was never very interested in detailed anatomy, so the surgical specialties like neurosurgery don’t really appeal. You have to be good with your hands, which I don’t think a problem for me – I’ve assisted at operations several times, and I’ve even done some minor ops by myself – but surgeons have to be able to do the same thing again and again without getting bored. I don’t think that would be a problem for me, but they need to make decisions fast and I’m not too good at that. I like to have time to think, which means surgery’s probably not right for me.’

Note:the collocation good with is followed by a noun – He’s good with children. The collocation good at is followed by the –ing form (gerund) of a verb, or by a noun – She’s good at explaining procedures. She is good at explanations.

Exercises:

1 Write sentences to describe the work of the specialist in each branch of medicine. Look at B to help you.

1 dermatology A dermatologist specializes in diseases of the skin.

2 rheumatology

3 traumatology

4 paediatrics

5 obstetrics

2 Complete the table with words from A, B and C and related forms. Put a stress mark in front of the stressed syllable in each word.

3 Find prepositions in C that can be used to make word combinations with the words in the box. Then use the correct forms of the words to complete the sentences.

1A pathologist …………diagnosing disease through examining cells and tissue.

2A paediatrician must enjoy ………… ……….children.

3An oncologist is…………..the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

4A psychiatrist must be……………….counseling.

5A neurosurgeon must be……………….her hands.

4 Make word combinations using a word from each box. Two words can be used twice. Look at A, B and C to help you.