VOA慢速英语2012 Health Report - Getting Paid to Play Sick at School

Health Report - Getting Paid to Play Sick at School

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Some people act sick to get out of work. Others act sick to get work. For medical actors like Ted¹ Bell, the stage is an examination room with a future doctor, nurse or other health care professional.
TED BELL: "I start getting a cramping² type pain right here."
EMILY TYRRELL: "And how long do they last for when they occur?"
Mr. Bell is playing a fifty-five-year-old patient with stomach pains that began three months ago.
TED BELL: "I’m a teacher. And several times its happened at school."
Ted Bell is just playing a teacher. But in a way he really does teach. He helps students like Emily Tyrrell at the University of Maryland School of Nursing learn to work with patients.
In real life, Mr. Bell is a retired³ civil engineer. He now works as what is known as a "standardized⁴ patient." He stays busy working at local medical schools.
TED BELL: "And it has developed into a great part time, or retirement⁵ job actually, for me, and I go to all six schools in this region, Baltimore-Washington area."
Ted Bell, a medical actor, talks with a health care professional.
About seven hundred standardized patients work in the area. Pay starts at seventeen dollars an hour. It can go as high as thirty-five dollars an hour depending on the project.
Becoming a standardized patient does not require medical knowledge. The schools provide the training. Nor does it require acting⁶ experience. In fact, standardized patient Tom Wyatt is a professional actor -- yet he does not even think of his work with the students as acting.
Tom Wyatt: "I use some of the acting skills, but honestly when its going well, I’m not really acting, I am reacting. I’m listening to them and reacting naturally and honestly to what they’re saying to me and what they’re giving me."
Standardized patients spend hours training for each of their "performances." They have to remember the medical history of the person they are playing and be able to answer questions as if they were really sick. Tom Wyatt says remembering all the patients he has to play and their conditions can be difficult.
Tom Wyatt: "Especially when I do, you know, sometimes nine or ten cases in a week at three different hospitals, so they’re all completely different."
After each session the standardized patients talk to the students to discuss their performance -- that is, the performance of the student.
Tom Wyatt: "The things that really stood out for me: your, your manner was extremely professional. And you were in command at all times. You kind of took charge of the room."
Kurt Haspert is studying to become a nurse practitioner⁷ and likes working with medical actors.
KURT HASPERT: "It is always good to do the standardized patients cause it kind of keeps you thinking about how your thought process has to go, and how you can narrow down your differential diagnosis⁸ while you’re asking questions."
The actors enjoy it too. Retired engineer Ted Bell says the students find the experience very helpful, and that makes him feel good.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Arick Simms.  I'm Christopher Cruise⁹.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 cramping   

图像压缩

参考例句：

• The bleeding may keep my left hand from cramping. 淌血会叫我的左手不抽筋。
• This loss of sodium can cause dehydration and cramping. 钠流失会造成脱水和抽筋。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

8 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

9 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。