Volunteer program for immigrant doctors to improve medical English gets big boost

Good initiative. During my various cancer treatments, some, by no means all, of the doctors who helped treat me would have benefited from this training:

Romel Castillo, a family physician originally from Cuba, learned much more than words when he joined a fledgling program to brush up on his medical English. 

He learned the unspoken language of practising medicine in Canada, where concepts such as patient privacy, cultural competency and shared decision-making can be different than in an immigrant doctor’s homeland. 

“In my country, it’s like you prescribe the medication, they take it,” said Dr. Castillo, 35, who moved to Canada in 2021 and now lives in Brampton, Ont. “But here, I ask you first, ‘What are your values, your understanding of the condition?’ I share with you my knowledge, and then we make an arrangement.” 

Those subtleties, which would be hard to pick up from a Spanish-to-English medical dictionary, were the most important lessons that Dr. Castillo took away from Health English Language Pro (HELP), a program that pairs retired Canadian physicians with newcomer doctors to improve their medical English over the course of about 10 virtual conversations.

On Tuesday, HELP will get a major boost when the Canadian Medical Association Foundation announces a $645,000 grant to expand the program so that volunteer Canadian doctors can share their expertise with at least 330 more immigrants like Dr. Castillo, who is working in the health system, but not yet as a doctor….

Source: Volunteer program for immigrant doctors to improve medical English gets big boost