How to Write a Discharge Letter in OET?

If you are a medical practitioner who wishes to migrate abroad and invest your time and effort in the medical sector, you need to clear the Occupational English Proficiency Test. The OET test is mandatory for nurses and doctors migrating abroad.

The aspirants who wish to migrate to English-speaking countries, both for general or academic purposes need to clear the OET exam.

The OET is the basic foundation step for aspirants who wish to work abroad in the medical sector. You have to prove your proficiency in English to qualify as a healthcare professional. You have to deal with the patients and the relatives and get in terms with the medical terms. 

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Discharge Letter

OET letter writing is categorized into three, namely, 

• Referral
• Discharge 
• Transfer

The discharge letter should communicate the reasons for the discharge awarded to the patient. The reasons and the remedies should be thorough and clear in the letter. You have to be proficient enough to draft a discharge letter knowing the medical terminologies.

The health care practitioner should use the letter format and should expand the short notes into complete sentences. Despite the type of the letter, you should sound extremely professional and proficient. Know how to draft a complete discharge letter for your upcoming OET exam.

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OET Writing Test

The OET test assesses the proficiency of the health care professionals in the reading, writing, speaking, and listening ability of the candidates. The writing test is the most prominent of them. The writing test involves letter writing, which is the major task.

Letter writing is the major task which is exclusively designed to assess the ability of the candidates to communicate well to the patients and the relatives through the writing process. Based on the actual circumstances that are relevant to the medical sector, the aspirants are asked to write the letter.

The aspirants should attend the OET exam where they will be asked to write the discharge letter. The candidates will be provided with the relevant documents and case notes to support the discharge letter. You have to take the information from the given supporting documents to write the discharge letters.

Criteria

The most important aspect of the OET letter writing is the grading criteria. There are six new grading schemes for the OET discharge letter writing. The grading criteria is given below for the reference:

Purpose

The aspirants should understand the purpose of drafting the discharge letter. They have to state the purpose professionally. It should be made very clear at the beginning of the letter itself. The first paragraph of the letter is the best possible section for you to state the purpose of the letter.

The first paragraph should be crystal clear and straightforward. The aspirants should state the reason for writing the letter and the major actions that the patients should adopt to get a complete cure for the disease.

Content

You have to be very accurate while including the most relevant information and details in the discharge letter. The content of the letter should be intact. It should be very clear and precise. The information should be accurate. You have to write the letter in the required length. The candidates should write the letter between the given 180-200 words.

The word calculation itself is a principle and will not be disciplined for documenting below the word limit or over. The candidates should stick to the word count given. Make sure you include the details that are relevant to the case in a solid manner. You have to be careful enough to add only the most relevant information. The necessary details should be included. You have to understand the given task real task appropriately.

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Genre and Style

The language that you use to draft your letter should be proficient. The number of letters along with the different types of letters should be distinguished from itself. The language that you use to draft the letter should be clear. The style of your letter should be formal.

You have to address the letter with clarity. The medical terminology should be used in the appropriate place. You have to think about the reader while drafting the letter. Your discharge letter should be precise. It should be non-judgmental and concise.

Conciseness and Clarity

 This area focuses on the relevant details needed for the content criteria. You should make sure that you are not including any unnecessary details. The details that you include in the content should meet the purpose of the discharge letter.

You have to relate the content with paragraph one in an accurate manner. The purpose of the discharge letter should be clear and conscience.

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Organization and Layout

 The idea should be organized and the layout should be intact with the necessary ideas equally distributed. This criteria is part of the letter writing. You need to organize the letter in a very neat manner.

You have to distribute the points in each paragraph. Each of your paragraphs should reflect the key ideas. The information should be neatly arranged.

Language

The language should be proficient and the linguistic features should be demonstrated. The vocabulary and grammar should be clear. You have to use the punctuation, vocabulary, articles, prepositions, tenses, verbs etc neatly in the sentences.

You have to express your ideas with clarity without much drama. You have to make sure that you are highlighting what is inevitable for the letter. You have to be accurate while drafting the letter.

The criteria of purpose are assessed on a scale of 3, whereas all other criteria will be graded on a scale of 7.

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Preparation Tips

You will get 45 minutes to complete the writing task and you can utilize 5 minutes for the proration and 40 minutes for the writing task. You have to read the prompt clearly while you prepare to write the letter. The letter should be clear and the purpose should be relevant.

The layout of the letter should be intact and professional enough to address the reader. The word limit should be kept in mind while you start writing the letter by collecting only the relevant details. 

You have to divide the points in each paragraph. Your letter of discharge should have an introduction, body paragraph and a conclusion. The purpose should be apparent in each paragraph. The letter of discharge should be short and precise. The concluding paragraph should wind up the entire matter in a professional way.

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OET Discharge Sample Letter

The letter gives the complete note on how the OET discharge letter writing should be done.

Prompt:

Case notes: “ You are the charge nurse of Mr Thomas Beckon is a 87-year-old patient on the ward of a hospital”

Details: osteoarthritis needing left total hip substitute surgery, cautiousness needed post-acquittance from the clinic

Task: “Utilizing the details in the patient’s case letters, compose a letter to Ms Vinny Van goh, Senior Nurse at Fitursole Nursing Home, 29 Station Road, Corninwall, who will be accountable for Mr Beckon’s resumed consideration at the Nursing Home.”

Tip: Here, there is no direct mention that this is a letter of discharge. But based on the details given above the patient is discharged from the hospital after the surgery. Thus this can be considered as the discharge letter.

Refer the Letter given below for better understanding:

Date: 21 September 2024

To,

Ms Vinny 

Subject: Concerning discharge and supervision of patient Mr

Dear Ms Vinny,

I am writing about the discharge of your patient Mr Beckon from the clinic, following his elective whole left hip replacement surgery for osteoarthritis on 20 September. The patient is to yield to the nursing quarters hereafter, 17 September.

Post-surgery, Mr Beckon’s mobility has demonstrated advancement. He is delivering periodic disorientation, presumably due to the consequences of the anaesthesia, and is being watched. His supervision at the clinic concerns everyday bandages of the surgery incision spot, a conditioning schedule concentrated on the scope of movement, extending and maintaining, and occupational treatment. 

The program of maintenance and monitoring to be obeyed after his dismissal to the nursing house, contains the monitoring of his medicines, especially the input of Panadeine Forte, the protection of skin innocence and the continuance of the training schedule. 

The tools needed for his consideration contain a wheelie-walker and wedge cushion, which will both be delivered by the infirmary. He will also demand a bathroom raiser, which is being employed for 7 weeks by a regional medical supplier.

The tacks are to be dismissed in 5 weeks on 29 September. Mr is also to have follow-up FBE and UEC examinations at the City Hospital Clinic.

If you need any clarifications regarding Mr Beckon’s discharge, you can connect me directly

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Nurse. 

Entri’s online OET coaching will guide you to crack the upcoming OET test with the required proficiency test. The OET is meant for all those aspirants who wish to migrate abroad to the medical sector. Entri’s online OET coaching gives you a comprehensive and systematic learning platform for aspirants to improve their proficiency. You can grab the desired scores in the OET with the help of the proper guidance from the experts.

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The mock tests, daily tests, real-time interaction, peer learning sessions, live doubt clearance sessions, revision tests, practice tests, assistance and support, and daily assessments make Entri’s online OET coaching different from other learning platforms. The personalized and flexible learning space makes Entri’s online OET coaching more user-friendly. The comprehensive study plan and the study timetable will allow you to crack your OET exam more efficiently.

While drafting the letter, you should be very careful. You have to understand the task assigned. You have to identify the letter type and know the case notes in a better way. Read the case notes and understand the requirements. The case notes and the details should be selected.

Make sure that you are choosing the information that is relevant to the drafting of the discharge letter. You have to plan the content and organise the layout of the case note before commencing the drafting of the letter. The writing structure should be maintained while drafting the letter and should use medical terminology. The format should be intact and the word count should be precise.