ESL Doctors Reading Comprehension Passage
When most people are ill with a non-life threatening condition, they
will most often see a General Practitioner, a GP, also called a Family
Doctor. These doctors generally work in the local community in surgeries
rather than in hospitals, so they are convenient for people to see for a
consultation. However, other GPs can work in a very wide range of areas,
such as in hospitals, in education and for insurance companies.
As the name suggests, GPs are doctors that do not have a specialty, such
as a brain surgeon or cancer specialist: they are able to diagnose and
treat all the possible diseases and problem that one of their patients
might have. They can treat and manage most illnesses and perform some
minor surgeries in their practice. Then for more serious cases they will
refer the patient to a specialist that will work in a hospital.
If you are ill and need to see a GP you will normally need to make an
appointment. Sometimes you can just walk into the surgery and see a
doctor, but that is not very likely as GPs are normally very busy and
all their appointment times will be fully booked. Often you have to wait
several hours if not at least one of two days before you can get an
appointment with a GP. If you are too ill to wait you have to go to a
hospital and visit the accident and emergency department.
GPs also make house-calls. These are when the GP comes to your house to
treat you or see a patient. Most often a GP has to make house-calls to
see elderly people who cannot get to the surgery easily. They might be
ill and need to doctor to give them medicine or it could be that the GP
just want to check on them and make sure that they are ok.
If you are ill, the doctor will normally prescribe you some medicine and
tell you to go away for a few days before you go back and visit them
again if you have not started to get better. The GP will also explain
how you can have a better lifestyle that could prevent you from becoming
ill in the first place. They will normally recommend that you stop
smoking cigarettes (if you do), not to drink too much alcohol and to get
exercise. Once you have your prescription you will need to visit a
pharmacy to get the medicine the doctor prescribed you.
ESL Doctors Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension questions that go with the above reading passage.
1) What is the difference between a specialist and a GP?
A) There is no difference, they are both doctors.
B) The GP normally works in a hospital and the specialist works in a surgery.
C) A GP can treat patients with many different illnesses, while the specialist
focuses on one area only.
D) You need to be referred to a GP but not to a specialist.
2) Where do GP normally work?
A) In a hospital
B) In a school
C) In a surgery
D) In a mobile vehicle
3) Why will you often have to wait to see a GP?
A) They are very busy, so all their appointment times get full.
B) To make sure you are really ill.
C) So the GP will have enough work to do each day.
D) You will need to travel a long way to see them and the journey will take a few
days.
4) What sort of person will most likely be visited by a GP in their own home?
A) A new born baby.
B) An old person.
C) Someone with a serious illness.
D) GPs do not visit patients in their houses.
5) What do GPs do as well as making ill people better?
A) They give advice about how to not become ill in the first place.
B) They help the families of people who have died.
C) They are participate in local community activities.
D) They work with the people who make the medicine to sell more of it.
