OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma to A Respiratory Specialist

If you want to excel in the Occupational English Test (OET), medical professionals should have good knowledge of medical terminology as well as excellent written communication. It is essential to be able to communicate clearly and effectively through written format. In this blog, we will discuss some examples of OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma to A Respiratory Specialist. These sample letters will act as practice tools for bettering your writing skills.

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OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma: Introduction

The writing component in OET aims to test your capability to write a letter or any similar piece in a professional context. The professional letters written by a nurse should be:

• Precise
• Coherent
• Appropriate for the intended audience

OET letters are mainly for three uses; referral, transfer and discharge. But regardless of the scenario, the writing of an OET letter is similar in all three cases.

However, we have to focus on referral letters in this blog. So, what is a referral letter? A referral letter is often a letter addressed to another medical professional handing over the details of a patient and requesting one of the following things.

• A specific kind of care
• Some specific investigative procedures
• Management

In this blog, we will discuss how to write an OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma to A Respiratory Specialist. We will learn while discussing a sample letter. We can familiarise the referral letter format and improve our writing skills by practising with these sample letters.

Reading a Case Note

The first step in the OET referral letter writing exercise is to read the case not given as a question. Read the case note given below carefully before writing an OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma to A Respiratory Specialist.

Case Note

Anne Dennise is a five-year-old girl with asthma.

Patient Details

• Name: Anne Dennise
• Date of Birth (DOB): 19^th January 2020 (5 years)
• Gender: Female

Social History

• Student
• Can get ready for school by self
• Has friends
• Relocated to another apartment recently

Developmental Notes

• Development up to chronological age
• Performs well in preschool
• Good gross and fine motor skills
• Good speech and language skills

Substance Intake

Nil

Allergies

• Penicillin
• Milk
• Dust mites
• Pollen
• Pet dander

Family History

• 2^nd child among 3 children
• Father has asthma
• Mother and siblings don’t have asthma or allergies
• Paternal grandmother has asthma
• Paternal grandfather has many allergies
• Maternal grandmother has diabetes
• Maternal grandfather passed away due to old age

Medical History

• Diagnosed with asthma at 3 years old
• Showed asthmatic symptoms once or twice a month earlier. But the frequency of asthma attacks increased last month.

22/02/2025

• Temperature: 38.5-degree Celsius
• Blood pressure: 115/66
• Pulse rate: 110 beats/ min
• Respiratory rate: 32 breaths/min
• Vital signs are normal
• The patient was conscious and cooperative during the examination
• No pain
• Suffered from respiratory distress due to suprasternal and subcostal recession
• Hydration and nutritional status are good
• Added breath sound Ronchi at the time of expiration from the upper chest zone
• No abnormal findings in cardiovascular and abdominal examination

Diagnosis

• Study the medical history of patent
• Physical examination
• Take measurements of the lungs
• Look at allergic statuses to find risk factors

Plan

• Conduct lung function test
• Blood and sputum test
• Chest x-ray
• If the finding poses no risk continue the old medication (Albuterol)
• Otherwise, refer to a respiratory specialist

Provider Information

Dr Anita Coleman

Paediatrician

Novel Children’s Hospital

Contact info: 9XXXXXXXX

The question comes after this case note. Usually, it will be in the following format.

Write a referral letter to respiratory specialist Dr Amy Williams, at Daylight Hospital, 345 Street, Newtown for further investigation and treatment.

Now read this case note two or three times and note down important points for each part of the letter. Then we will add each of this info as we write the letter.

Key Information to Include in a Referral Letter for Asthma

Now we will learn how to structure an OET letter.

Part 1: Address Line and Subject

The details that come under the first part of the letter are the following.

These details come in the same order provided above. Some tips to keep in mind while writing these details are provided below.

• The preferred date format is DD/MM/YY.
• Interchanging the order of data and receiver details is accepted.
• Interchanging the order of reference line and greeting is accepted.
• Mention the Date of birth and name of the patient in the reference line (age too if given)
• Use the appropriate title or job profile name of the receiver.

Part 2: Introduction

The purpose of writing the letter should be immediately revealed in the introduction. So the introduction paragraph must contain three basic things.

• Full name of the patient
• Their medical complaint
• The reason for writing a letter

Keep some more of the following tips in mind while writing the introduction of the OET referral letter.

• Leaving out the purpose will impact scores negatively.
• The purpose can be identified by reading the case notes and writing the task section in the question.
• Use the keyword refer if you aim to introduce one of your patients to another healthcare worker for the first time.
• Keep the introduction very brief so that the purpose is immediately apparent to the reader.
• Avoid details that obscure the info discussed in the introduction.
• Avoid usages like (a/this/ the/ my) ____patient in letter. Such usages are considered less respectful.
• Refer the patient using the full name and title the first time.

So, give the general info about expected actions in the introduction. A detailed description should be given in the conclusion.

Part 3: First Paragraph of Body (Presenting Complaints)

Tips for writing the first paragraph of the body of the letter are given below.

• Add the most relevant information only. This includes complaints, possible background of complaints, examination findings, additional investigations required and any other important information given by the patient.
• Avoid using pronouns while referring to the patient for the first time in a paragraph.
• Use the second name as an appropriate title for referring to the patient.
• Brackets are informal. So, rephrase sentences in such a way that brackets are not required.
• Do not capitalise the name of generic drugs.

Part 4: Second Paragraph of Body (History)

This is the part of the letter where we discuss the family, social and past medical history of the patient. The following are the things to keep in mind while writing it.

• Add relevant information like possible risk factors or triggers to help the specialist arrive at a diagnosis or action plan.
• Arrange information in the order of their importance.
• Avoid unimportant details that might cause confusion or are irrelevant to the situation at hand.

Part 5: Third Paragraph of Body (Plan)

The plan of action for treatment is suggested here. Some pointers for writing those sections are given below.

• Do not write the plan as ‘refer to a specialist for opinion and treatment’ because that is already the purpose of the letter.
• Just describe what was the purpose of referring the patient to a specialist. Was it for further investigation? Or was there any complication that could not be treated in your hospital? State the reason.

Part 5: Conclusion

Describe the expected action that the reader must take. What care was expected for the patient from the reader? Explain it here. Only relevant information regarding further care should be discussed here.

Part 5: Closing Sentence

The closing sentence is not included in the word count. However not writing a closing sentence will negatively impact your score. A closing sentence insinuating that the addressee can get back to the writer if they need any further information about the patient must be there. But make sure that this sentence doesn’t contain any informal phrases or words.

Part 6: Complimentary Close

There are some things to keep in mind to make sure that the salutations are appropriate.

• If the name of the recipient is given then use ‘Yours sincerely’.
• If the name of the recipient is not given then use ‘Yours faithfully’.
• Write the name of the position or the designation of the writer after the name. You could even write the name of the hospital in which the writer is working.
• Leave a blank space between each of these sections.

This is the structure of an OET referral letter. Study it well and memorise the rules listed above.

OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma: Example

Now that we know how to structure a referral letter, let us look at a sample OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma to A Respiratory Specialist.

Dr Amy Williams

Respiratory specialist

Daylight Hospital

345 street

Newtown

20 January 2025

Re: Anne Dennise, DOB: 19th January 2020 (5 years)

I am writing this letter to refer Ms Anne Dennise, a 5-year-old kindergartener with changes in the number of asthma occurrences per month due to unknown reasons for further investigation and exact diagnosis.

Ms Dennise has been suffering from respiratory distress due to suprasternal and subcostal recession for the past week. Added breath sounds Ronchi at the time of expiration from the upper chest was noticed during the examination. After relocation to a new home this month, asthma attacks are getting more frequent according to her mother. She is presently continuing with medicine albuterol. Her mother reported that there were no changes in the dose of medication or diet when the issue started.

Ms Dennis’s paternal side of the family has a history of asthma and allergies. She is also allergic to milk, penicillin, pollen, dust mites and pet dander.

Given the above, Ms. Dennise is referred to you for a lung function test, blood and sputum test and chest x-ray if required and your opinion on further treatment. Please contact me if further information is needed.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Anita Coleman

Paediatrician

Novel Children’s Hospital

Tips for Writing OET Referral Letters

There are some tips that you have to keep in mind while writing OET referral letters. Some of them are listed below.

• Summarise as much information in case notes as you can.
• Use transition words and conjunctions as needed.
• Cover more information per sentence.
• Keep the word range of the letter between 180-200.
• Paragraphing in a letter must be logical.
• There should be good coherence of thought.
• Don’t keep the writing style focused on the writer as it is highly informal.
• Avoid short/note forms.
• The tone of the letter should be polite and formal.

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OET Referral Letter for Pediatric Patient with Asthma: Conclusion

It is essential to understand the OET letter structure before starting to practise sample OET writing tasks. Practise and go through as many OET writing sample tasks to get a good understanding of the vocabulary, clarity and structure a good OET letter must have. Practice leads to perfection. Join Entri Elevate OET coaching to get mock tests and expert mentors to analyse and correct your OET writing tasks. These correction and doubt clearance sessions can boost your preparation in a way self-study cannot. Practise more OET writing tasks! Become competent and confident before writing the actual exam.