English for Healthcare (FutureLearn)

Offered by King's College London,
English for Healthcare (FutureLearn)

Develop your language and communication skills for a career in healthcare and learn new healthcare vocabulary in English. Learn the language and vocabulary of healthcare professionals. The language of healthcare can be complex. On this course, you will develop your English language skills and learn vocabulary for a career and study in healthcare.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

You will learn healthcare terminology and how to communicate in different professional situations. You will practise your listening skills with recordings of healthcare professionals and test your knowledge by writing the answers to discussion questions.
Upon completion of this course, you will feel more confident using healthcare language and you will have explored what it’s like to use these language skills in a healthcare setting.

What topics will you cover?

  • Working and learning in the hospital
  • Experiences of patients
  • Symptoms and diagnoses
  • Taking notes and clear communication
  • Working in different healthcare contexts: Caring for patients in the home; Healthcare interventions in the community.
  • How to write reflectively

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Apply language skills to a range of healthcare contexts and situations. For example: using adjectives to describe symptoms, using vocabulary related to problems/solutions and causes/effects
  • Interpret different genres typical of healthcare, including instructions, notes, reflective journals, registration forms
  • Explore new vocabulary and terminology relating to healthcare
  • Identify suitable communication modes for different professional situations, for example when giving instructions to patients
  • Reflect on your learning, and practice writing a reflective journal. Apply language skills to evaluate your experiences
  • Collect and record medical information by reading and listening for specific information

Who is the course for?
This course has been created for refugees, displaced people and the communities supporting them in the MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) region who wish to study a healthcare related course at a university in English.
It has been created as part of the PADILEIA project, and designed to provide additional support to students taking the Introduction to Nursing course.
We recommend learners have a minimum of CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) A2 to get the most from this course.
It will also be of interest to anyone looking to develop their English language and communication skills in a healthcare setting.
Supported by UK aid - Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education, Innovation and Reform

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Clinical Bioinformatics: Unlocking Genomics in Healthcare (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Manchester

Clinical Bioinformatics: Unlocking Genomics in Healthcare (FutureLearn)

Learn about the role of clinical bioinformaticians in healthcare and how their work is helping to realise the genomics revolution. This free online course aims to raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of the role of Clinical Bioinformatics and Genomics in healthcare today.

Self Paced
5-12 Weeks
Working Supportively With Refugees: Principles, Skills and Perspectives (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Glasgow

Working Supportively With Refugees: Principles, Skills and Perspectives (FutureLearn)

Learn how the principals of psychological well-being, communication and interpretation can benefit your work with refugees. Explore interdisciplinary approaches to working with refugees. Refugees are a diverse group, speaking many languages and of varied religions and ethnicities. This course acknowledges that skills requirements are changing rapidly and offers training for those working in this area.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Improving Healthcare Through Clinical Research (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Improving Healthcare Through Clinical Research (FutureLearn)

On this free online course, find out how medical treatments are discovered, tested and evaluated to improve healthcare for all. Everything we do in healthcare has to be discovered and thoroughly tested before it can be put into practice. In this course you will explore clinical research – its challenges and its huge benefits to modern healthcare.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
OPAT: Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy - BSAC

OPAT: Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (FutureLearn)

Learn how patients with a serious infection can be managed in outpatient settings with the help of an OPAT service. Discover the function, role and limitations of an OPAT service. OPAT is a clinical service which enables patients with serious infection to be managed in an outpatient setting. The service aims to facilitate admission avoidance or early hospital discharge. On this course, you will be introduced to the concept of OPAT. You’ll start by looking at the roles and responsibilities within the multi-disciplinary OPAT team.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
ECG Assessment: an Introduction for Healthcare Providers (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
St George's, University of London

ECG Assessment: an Introduction for Healthcare Providers (FutureLearn)

Understand the principles of electrocardiography and learn a step-by-step approach to the ECG test, with this free online course. The electrocardiograph (also known as electrocardiogram) or ECG is a non-invasive diagnostic procedure, commonly used to assess people with known or suspected heart disease, in a variety of healthcare settings. Competent recording, reading and interpretation is vital to ensure safe and effective care, yet ECGs are commonly undertaken by unqualified and junior staff, who have received little training.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Perioperative Medicine in Action (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University College London

Perioperative Medicine in Action (FutureLearn)

Explore perioperative medicine and how you can improve care for the high risk surgical patient. Join this RCoA endorsed course. Too many patients die or suffer prolonged complications following surgery. Perioperative medicine is an emerging, multi-disciplinary approach, which tackles this issue, by optimising the care of high-risk surgical patients. It encompasses disciplines including anaesthetics, surgery, nursing, care of the elderly, physiotherapy and healthcare management.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Medical Humanity: Engaging Patients and Communities in Healthcare (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Taipei Medical University

Medical Humanity: Engaging Patients and Communities in Healthcare (FutureLearn)

Find out how and why you should engage patients and communities in the development of new healthcare technology and treatments. The development of healthcare treatments has given people hope to fight diseases. However, humans are born to be afraid of advanced technologies. As such, it is critical that medical professionals have the skills to explain the benefits of treatments to patients and, ideally, involve them in the development of new treatments in the first place.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
English Pronunciation in a Global World (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

English Pronunciation in a Global World (FutureLearn)

In this course you will improve your English pronunciation skills and learn about speaking English in today's globalised world. Develop your ability to understand and speak English. A huge range of people need to be able to speak English in today’s globalised world. This means that you’ll need to understand, and be understandable to, other non-native speakers. But diversity in spoken English should also be appreciated.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
English for Academic Study (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Coventry University

English for Academic Study (FutureLearn)

Prepare to study at university, explore the qualities of a successful student, and learn key vocabulary in an academic context. Increase your knowledge of English for academic study. If you are preparing to study at a university where the first language is English, either on campus or online, this course aims to help you understand what is expected, and develop skills to help you learn independently and build your confidence.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Nursing in Crisis? Exploring Current Challenges (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Coventry University

Nursing in Crisis? Exploring Current Challenges (FutureLearn)

Explore the key issues affecting nurses' job satisfaction and practice today - from stress to changing roles and healthcare needs. Nurses play an important role in providing healthcare around the world and, in some countries, form more than 50% of the healthcare workforce. Yet, there is a global shortage with international organisations citing working conditions and image as contributing factors to nurses leaving the profession and to their initial recruitment.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Challenges in Antibiotic Resistance: Point Prevalence Surveys (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy - BSAC

Challenges in Antibiotic Resistance: Point Prevalence Surveys (FutureLearn)

Learn how to use Point Prevalence Surveys (PPS) to measure antibiotic consumption and fight antimicrobial resistance. Point Prevalence Surveys (PPS) are an important tool for healthcare professionals to use to assess and improve antibiotic prescribing locally, nationally and globally. This online course - led by experts from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) - looks at their use. You’ll discover the importance of measuring antibiotic consumption and how PPS can help.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Become a Pharmacy Preceptor (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Taipei Medical University

Become a Pharmacy Preceptor (FutureLearn)

Learn how to become an effective pharmacy preceptor, exploring the qualities a great preceptor needs. Good internship programs are vital for training healthcare providers well - that’s why effective pharmacy preceptors, the teachers who guide students through their pharmacy training, are so important. This course will provide those looking to to be internship preceptors, in the context of pharmacy education, with basic knowledge about pharmacy precepting.

Self Paced
4 Weeks