Why Medical English?

One of the common questions following my lectures in Japan goes like this: Why should I study medical English if I am not planning to train or practice in America?

There are many reasons of course. Principal among them:

1. English is the international language of medicine. All significant advances appear eventually if not initially in English. Even advances in Japan. This does not mean that Western medicine is necessarily the best, just well documented.

2. The NLM (pubmed.com) has over 6 million citations in digital format and is adding to this searchable database at a record clip of over 600,000 per year. English.

3. CME offerings by teleconference, internet, satellite are generally in English.

4. Travel abroad for conferences will usually be more rewarding for physicians with some clinical fluency in English.

5. Direct contact with colleagues abroad is facilitated by English fluency.

As "globalization" of medical knowledge progresses, isolation by language or other barriers will ultimately result in inferior clinical care. For better or worse the currency of this information exchange is English. Recognition of this has produced rapid advances in the West in "alternative" therapies ... thanks to our Asian colleagues who are willing to share their insights in English.