Advances in medical technology have increased the human life span, and as
elderly populations increase, so will jobs in healthcare. Unable to find a book specifically
targeting American English for nursing, this need has been met by designing material for
nurses and language instructors. The project provides a general overview of the workplace
setting and review of the literature organized around three areas: English for specific
purposes, hospital language, and cultural aspects of patient care. Within these three
areas, the topics of content-based language instruction and learner motivation, medical
terminology and abbreviations, and how cultural background can influence a person’s
response to illness and hospitalization are addressed. There is a review of six books
related to medical English and English for nurses and healthcare professionals. Most of
these books are designed for physicians, and emphasize British English.