How to face the challenges
4th Lecture: „Nursing on the Move“: Communication, Integration, Interaction in Healthcare
Kris van de Poel, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Presentation Kris van de Poel
While trying to effectively communicate in the varied healthcare contexts of today, healthcare professionals move between cultures. They have to engage with patients’ needs, wants and wishes and, in the process, encounter different communication styles as well as a wealth of medical and religious beliefs and convictions. Consequently, healthcare interactions can be delicate balancing acts where ideas, concerns and expectations about health and illness are being put to the test.
This is even more so, when one of the partners in the conversation uses a foreign language. Since healthcare communication heavily relies on the patient’s frame of reference, which has both individual and cultural characteristics, every exchange is a journey to find meaning in it. Nursing on the Move (NoM) tries to facilitate language-discordant medical interactions, so both patients and professionals become fully integrated in their encounters.
Keywords: Effective communication, healthcare, integration, language-discordancy
Presentation: Presentation Kris van de Poel
With a keen interest in communication challenges in professional and academic contexts, her research is applied and data-driven and firmly embedded in Language for Specific Purposes. Currently she is working on professional acculturation and intercultural communication. 
Kris van de Poel is an applied linguist engaging in teaching and research in applied linguistics. She has coordinated and audited projects in the UK, Scandinavia, Eastern and Central Europe, Asia and Africa. She is a professor at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and an extraordinary professor at North-West University in South Africa.
5th Lecture: Intercultural learning in „Nursing on the Move“
Dieter Vermandere, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Presentation Dieter Vermandere
In this presentation I will sketch the goals, materials and outcomes of the intercultural toolkit developed for Nursing on the Move starting from some very practical questions and challenges
(international) nurses face in their everyday interaction with foreign patients. I will focus on typical ingredients of intercultural competence training (knowledge, attitudes and skills) and detail how they interact in the NoM framework in order to foster awareness during the learning activities.
Presentation: Presentation Dieter Vermandere
His research focuses on sociolinguistic variation, Italian dialectology and language management in multilingual settings.
Prof. Dr. Dieter Vermandere teaches Italian sociolinguistics, General Linguistics, Language Management and Intercultural communication at the University of Antwerp (Belgium).
6th Lecture: Language and communication training in a diverse context – a view from the South
Tobie van Dyk, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
South Africa is a country with a diversity of people, cultures and languages. Contrary to the common belief that English is the lingua franca, it is only the fifth largest language in the country and
Presentation Tobie van Dyk
approximately 50% of the population can communicate on a fairly proficient level in this language. This is of particular concern in contexts, such as rural areas, where health care professionals are not necessarily trained or equipped to communicate in an efficient and culturally sensitive manner with patients. This presentation firstly outlines the South African context, and then focuses on endeavors to address the communication gap between patient and health care professional. In terms of the latter, the emphasis is on language and communication training and acculturating students in health care to function with confidence in a multilingual, diverse context.
Keywords: language and communication training, acculturation, multilingual, health care
Presentation: Presentation Tobie van Dyk
His expertise is in the fields of language testing and language for specific purposes, particularly language for academic purposes and language for occupational purposes.
Director: Centre for Academic and Professional Language Practice, North-West University, South Africa.
Published in GI-Mail 07/2017 (English edition). Sign up for GI-Mail here. Tip: More up to date educational events can be found online in the Education Database »medicine & health«.
