Category Archives: OET Speaking

WAYS TO ELICIT AND EXPLORE THE PATIENT’S IDEAS/CONCERNS OR EXPECTATIONS:

In the OET Speaking exam, the second sub-criteria under clinical communication criteria is “Understanding and incorporating the patient’s perspective”, which is commonly overlooked by students. It is essential to incorporate it to understand the patients’ feelings better.

The word ‘elicit’ means ‘to draw or evoke (a reaction, answer, or a fact) from someone.

When communicating with elderly, challenging, withdrawn, sad, or depressed patients, It is crucial to elicit their feelings and reactions constantly.

There are several ways by which we can do the former.

For instance, some patients might have difficulty disclosing/discussing some information about their condition, especially if they are anxious, embarrassed, or uncomfortable talking about it.

Following are the phrase that can be used to elicit information or explore ideas/feelings –

• Can I ask what you are thinking at the moment? 
• You seem worried. Would you mind telling me what’s bothering you?
• Could you tell me how this makes you feel? 
• I can see that this has made you concerned. What can I do to help you feel less anxious?
• Can you tell me something about your state of mind right now? 
• It seems you’ve got something on your mind. Do you mind sharing it with me?

We could also try to reassure these patients by using normalizing statements and telling them they are not alone in having these problems or experiences.

Example –

• Many people have difficulty taking the initial steps to lose weight.
• Many people find the instructions/guidelines for taking their medication complicated.
• This is a common problem, sometimes connected to not getting enough physical activity.
• It is perfectly natural for people to feel this way.
• It is a common occurrence, and it’s not unusual for this to happen to people in your age group.

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OET exam is a doorway to make your career in the sector of healthcare overseas. Consistently, every month number of students appear in the OET exam in the wake of tangible advantages on clearing this exam.

Tips to score good In OET Speaking test exam

Now let’s talk about how to improve OET speaking test. Even though you are quite good at English and speaks confidently, but when it comes OET speaking Test, you need to care about basic things.

Following are certain tips and strategies that will help candidates to get god grades in OET exam

If we talk about the speaking phase, we must know what examiners are listening to when you speak. Following are the certain tips that will help you to get good grades in the OET exam.

Play your Role

In the speaking sessions, there is an interlocutor who might be playing the role of a patient or any other client. Therefore, you have to play your role confidently. You have to act as a nurse, doctor, physiotherapist dentist, or any other healthcare professional. Your task is to act like that and most specifically be a professional as you are dealing with your real client or patient.

Breaking the ice

The most important thing the candidate should always take care of is he/she is the one who will start the conversation first. Therefore, you need to keep this thing in mind, you will be in full on the professional setting, so the candidate has to ask the questions or talk to the patient. Don’t assume that the patient will ask or start the conversation, as you will be in that role of (doctor-patient,) so break the ice and start giving advice or asking questions. However, 2 out of 10, patients or clients start the conversation, otherwise, you have to start it of your own.

For instance

Hello I am Aliza and I ‘am a community nurse. How can I help you?

Keep the Conversation On

Again, it’s all up to you to maintain the conversation. However, if at a certain point, the silence is invaded, so, it will be the candidates’ responsibility to make it go again.
For instance – Can you tell more about this situation?
Is there is anything that you would like to add?

Understand the patient/client (the interlocutor)

Although this phase is all about speaking, at the time, the candidate must listen to his patient also. Because, in order to reply to him back, you must know what to say after that. Most importantly, don’t just focus on your results, focus on the interaction too.

Upgrade your language

Don’t speak fast while talking to patients. Stay calm and polite while dealing. The candidate must know how to talk to a depressed 70 year-old-man. On the other side, how to g give a reply to an aggressive 19 year-old-man.

Be ready for unexpected turns

During your interview, there might be such situations can come where they ask such odd questions just to check your flexibility in your language and response. Don’t forget, the interviewer knows everything that is going in the real world, therefore, he/she merely wanted to know how you respond in such tough situations.

For instance – Can I have your number after the consultation?
What do you do?

So, be alert!!!

Maintain your roleplay

Lastly, the most important thing that can help the candidate to score grade A in OET speaking test is to maintain the role you are playing i.e. as a healthcare professional (Doctor, Dentist). You have to maintain these three stages introductions, body, and conclusion.

• Introduction –The candidate should first introduce himself and start the conversation.
• In the body – You should go with the flow that is happening in the conversation.
• In conclusion – The candidate can conclude by saying – So, we have talked about the use of X medicine and I understand your problem, so I think it’s the best thing to do.

Therefore, above all, certain tips that can help a candidate to get optimal results in OET speaking test.  OET Exam is all about evaluating the candidate’s capability in the field of English Language. This test checks the English proficiency of the candidate and makes him work abroad in the healthcare sector.