Medical communication

The national language of Vanuatu is Bislama, a pidgin/creole language including local dialects, English, French and a splash of Spanish too.

The practice of medicine is many things to many people, but one of the central pillars is communication.

Without good communication between clinician and patient you stand little chance of getting to the bottom of a patients problem, let alone understanding the wider impacts of a disease on their life and well being.

So from my first 4 weeks I’ve picked up the following gems of communication.

Breath in Pull-a-wind

Dizzy Head-e-spin

Injection me stickum you

Menstrual period sick long woman

Pass urine piss piss

Pass stool sit sit

Diarrhoea sit sit wota

Chest pain chest e sore

Out of breath short wind

Vomiting tro-out ‘trout’ (throw-out)

Child pikanini

Food kai kai

Penis rod blong man

Vagina rue blong bebe

Uterus basket blong pikanini

Back to normal e-come good

I have stomach ache Belly belo me is sore

Your Blong you

And my personal favourite

Helicopter Thunder Chicken or Master mix blong Jesus Christ

That’s almost enough to survive a ward round, but not quite enough to get through a clinic, though discussions about helicopters rarely crop up in every day conversation.