Towards improved quality of written patient records: language proficiency standards for non-native English speaking health professionals
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Professor
Robyn Woodward-Kron+61 3 83443072
Project Details
Strong written communication skills among overseas trained doctors and nurses are critical to the quality of patient records and safe patient care. In Australia, these skills are assessed using the Occupational English Test (OET), administered by the OET Centre, our partner organisation. This study will research the writing practices in hospitals, identify doctors’ and nurses’ criteria to evaluate effective records, and apply these criteria to the OET to set more profession-oriented passing standards on the OET written assessment. This will be achieved by bringing together a multi-disciplinary team including applied linguists, clinical educators, the OET Centre, and three partner hospitals.
The project will contribute to the quality and safety of healthcare in the Australian community by improving the written communication skills of the increasing number of non-native English speaking health professionals working in Australia. The project will achieve this by: (1) making visible the writing practices valued by doctors and nurses that contribute to effective patient records and (2) setting more relevant, profession-oriented minimum English standards for migrant health professionals with the Occupational English Test (OET), administered on behalf of government and professional registration bodies by our industry partner, the OET Centre.
Researchers
Associate Professor Eleanor Flynn
Collaborators
Associate Professor Cathie Elder
Professor Elizabeth Manias, Deakin University
Dr Barbara Zhang, Occupational English Test
Simon Davidson, PhD student
Sharon Yahalom, PhD student
Funding
2014-2016 Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant: Towards improved quality of written patient records: language proficiency standards for nonnative speaking health professionals (3yrs). McNamara, Knoch, Woodward-Kron, Elder, Manias, Flynn, Zhang. $242,380,LP130100171.
Research Outcomes
Knoch U, McNamara T, Woodward-Kron R, Elder C, Manias E, Flynn E, Zhang B. Towards improved language assessment of written health professional communication: the case of the Occupational English Test. Papers in Language Testing and Assessment. 2015. 4(2).