Barbara Hoekje, Ph.D, is associate professor of communication in the Department of Culture and Communication at Drexel University. She also directs Drexel University’s English Language Center. Hoekje’s focus is about furthering communication and understanding between people of different language and cultural backgrounds. For many years, she has worked with international graduate teaching assistants and international medical graduates in the United States.
In this podcast, Barbara Hoekje talks with Helen Osborne about:
- Why the U.S. healthcare workforce is becoming increasingly diverse.
- How speech patters differ even among those who speak the same language and come from the same country.
- Strategies that providers and patients can use to improve oral understanding.
- Ways to set a tone that welcomes everyone into our larger world family.
More ways to learn:
To contact Barbara Hoekje: Hoekje@drexel.edu or 215 895-2067.
For instructors of international doctors/healthcare professionals:
Hoekje B, Tipton S, English Language and the Medical Profession: Instructing and Assessing the Communication Skills of International Physicians (2011, Emerald Press).
For patients and others on the receiving end of health communication: Books, tapes, other resources on nonviolent communication by Marshall Rosenberg.
For foreign born doctors and others health professionals:
- Resources from the website of the acculturation program of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) (www.ecfmg.org/acculturation/index.html)
- Chapter on “Language and Communication” by Barbara Hoekje and Marta van Zanten in The International Medical Graduate’s Guide to US Medicine & Residency Training (by P. Alguirre, G. Whelan, and V. Rajput), published by the American College of Physicians, 2008.
- Practice materials, such as Good practice: Communication skills in English for the medical practitioner (by Marie McCullagh and Roz Wright, published by Cambridge University Press); book and CD
Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition (Updated 2018), by Helen Osborne. Relevant chapters include: 15, 18.
Read a transcript of this podcast.
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