Workplace

Have you ever thought where you are going to work? Would you enjoy working in a hospital? Or would you rather work at a private clinic or in an aged care facility? You can be employed in one of these settings or any other health organization, usually in an office setting, or at a reception.

We will read about Lily’s experience at the front desk of a healthcare facility:

Lily used to work at an age care facility, but now she works at the reception of an outpatient facility called Pacific Medical Centre, where they offer a range of essential medical services.

See the floorplan of Pacific Medical Centre:

See the layout of Pacific Medical Centre

Read Lily's description of her workplace

I’m a Medical receptionist. As soon as you step in, you will see me at the reception, ready to assist patients, schedule appointments, and provide any information they need.

In front of the reception, there is the waiting room, where patients wait for their turn. They can also wait at the cafeteria, which is next to the waiting room. On the left, there is an administration area, and at the end of the corridor, a storage space.

In the centre, there are two doctor offices. On the left, there is an exam room, and a rehab room.

To the left, there’s our lab, where various tests are conducted. Adjacent to it, there is a restroom. Continuing to the right, we have advanced imaging services, including a CT scan room and an X-ray room. Between the two, there is a private space, a dressing room, which provides comfort and privacy during examinations.

I love my job because I have the opportunity to help people every day.We assist a diverse range of people, from patients seeking routine check-ups to those requiring specialized treatments.

This is the exam room at Lily’s healthcare centre. Read the description:

In this section we are going to learn how to describe an office setting. Offices differ in size, they can be bigger or smaller, or even tiny, but they all have a few things in common, such as desks, office chairs, computers, printers, filing cabinets, etc.

Administration workers usually keep files in filing cabinets in order to organize them and put the documents that belong together. They use computers most of the time instead of paper. However, papers like patient histories, reports, or minutes must be printed. The printer still plays an important role, and paper is an essential tool in an office.

Apart from the furniture, in an office there are always stationery items, such as staplers, pencilhoders, hole punch, scissors, etc. See some of these elements present in the picture above.

Here is an example of an office:

Check the name of some of the elements.

See the picture of Queen’s Hospital reception, where the administrative work is done. They welcome patients, register them, give them information, schedule appointments, direct people to different places at the hospital, do the billing, and keep accounts.

Source: freepick. author:@vectorpocket

Read the following dialogue, where Craig and Samantha compare their offices. Note the use of comparative and superlative forms highlighted in bold:

In the previous section, we saw descriptions of various settings. In all of them we made use of prepositions to indicate the position of the elements in the different settings.

In this section, we will look into the use of prepositions of place to indicate location. These prepositions can express position or movement.

Prepositions to indicate position:

The following image shows a graphical representation of the prepositions of place indicating position:

The prepositions that express movement are:

Towards is more formal than the preposition to. Example: I saw him walking towards the car park.

We use all these prepositions with verbs that indicate movement, for example:

Here are some examples:

But we do not use a preposition with the noun home:

It is wrong to say: *I am going to home.

The following image represents the prepositions of place that indicate movement:

Other prepositions

Giving directions means to explain someone the way to a certain place. We can ask for directions with these questions:

When you are at the front desk or the reception, you have to direct patients and visitors to different places in the facilities. They will be asking where they are having their tests or examinations. See the floorplan of BDL Hospital (following two images), and read the dialogues below.

Indicating location

To give directions, it is sometimes useful to indicate the location of buildings and other reference points. To indicate the location, we must use the appropriate prepositions of place. Here are some useful expressions:

When we say the name of the street, we do not include the article the. It is wrong to say: ‘Go along the Green St.’ or ‘It is in the Green St.’, but we can use the article when the name is ‘Main St.’: Go along the Main St., It is in the Main St..

In the following dialogue, one person is giving directions (see map on following image for reference):

Some verbs commonly used to give directions are:

Here are some expressions for giving directions:

The expressions ‘go straight ahead’ and ‘go along’ are often confused:

• ‘Straight ahead’ is an adverb that indicates the direction of the movement: we cannot say the name of the street with this expression. It is wrong to say: Go straight ahead Green St. and turn left. We say: Go straight ahead and turn left.
• ‘Along’ is a preposition, so we must use a noun. It is wrong to say: Go along and turn left. We say: Go along Green St. and turn left.

To give directions, we have to give clear instructions: Use short sentences and keep them simple. Do not give long and detailed information. The words and expressions must be appropriate to the context. The normal pattern is: first, explain the way to the place; next, say the exact location by using the appropriate prepositions and reference points (for example: opposite a park). We generally use the imperative form or the modal verb should. We can combine the imperative with the future form (will): you will go past a bank, you will see a park, etc.

A frequent mistake when giving directions is the wrong use of the preposition until (Cat. fins a). This is a preposition of time, so it is wrong to say: until the traffic lights. We say: until you come to the traffic lights.