Medical Terms in Foreign Countries

[KanRunMo]

It is interesting but obviously sometimes frustrating for people going overseas (outside U.S. or their own country) to finds words they think they know and to their surprise they mean something different. Anethetist, anesthesiologist, intern, internist - etc are even misunderstood in the U.S. I guess the best advice is to get a medical translation dictionary before going out of the country.

[Badgolfer]

It is interesting but obviously sometimes frustrating for people going overseas (outside U.S. or their own country) to finds words they think they know and to their surprise they mean something different. Anethetist, anesthesiologist, intern, internist - etc are even misunderstood in the U.S. I guess the best advice is to get a medical translation dictionary before going out of the country.

Having lived in 7 different countries I am an expert in this!

The biggest issue is medicine, not biology, and of course 'language skills'. Most of the stuff in the body was named years ago and has specific names, typically latin names, so the content of what the Dr saying is recognizable. Have them write it down and look it up if you don't understand. I have to write stuff down most visits any way so not a surprise there.

Medicine and Drugs use a different name everywhere mainly due to copyright and trademark reasons. There is also the issue of what it is approved for....one good example is Aleve which is known as Napro-gesic here in Australia and is only recommended for women's period pain. Tylenol is known as Panadol and so forth. Every country is different. However, they are often more relaxed about prescriptions and I have gotten drugs I needed OTC.

The biggest problem for us over the years has been poor language skills. I am not medically fluent in French, Russian, Arabic, Scottish (yes really) and Texan :-) The doctors in those places are not typically fluent in English and may have been well trained but not in English. Hence a communication problem. However, in most of the world the US Dollar patient has priority and you can make sure you take the time to point at pictures, write stuff down, draw a picture, etc. We have managed through several surgeries, accidents, and illnesses. It can be a struggle but not insurmountable.

Hope that helps,

Dan

[KanRunMo]

Good idea about using pictures. When I went to Mexico, I took the prescription leaflet with me that had the ingrediant name on it - example: Diovan's ingrediant name is Valsartan. They recognized that. There you get prescription drugs over the counter - of course you take your chances with it.