liz askew (asker) Nov 16, 2016:

Oh, I've just seen this discussion.
This is a weird one as this patient has domiciliary hospitalisation, although he has just left hospital after a period of hospitalisation in hospital!

Tony M Nov 16, 2016:

@ Asker Surely the wider context may give additional clues?

Has this patient recently been hospitalized — or indeed may still be? In that case, there would be some sense in specifying that the appointment letter needed to be sent to them once they got home.
After all, this would be the 'normal' situation — so why would they bother to specify it, unless there were some specific reason why it might not necessarily have been the case in this instance?

dwt2 Nov 16, 2016:

I agree with Nikki. That was the basis for my initial comment!

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Nov 16, 2016:

I initially thought this meant that it was to be done at home. However, as far as I can see, from a pruely practical point of view, I have not found any trace (no pun intended) of a mobile scintigraphy unit which I can imagine a team turning up with at a patient's home.
I conclude that it has to mean that the letter of appointment is to be sent to the patient's home address.

I'm doing a clinical psychology internship in adult psychiatry at the moment and seeing the everyday importance of how writing something in note form can be extremely ambiguous. "Convocation à domicile" : is the patient to be seen at home? is the notice of appointment to be sent to the patient's address? As translators, we see this difficulty on a regular basis. Patients do too. Now during my internship, I see the consequences administratively also of in-hosue type note form for communications and they can also be ambiguous too for team members!

Anita M. A. Mazzoli Nov 16, 2016:

Chaplin, yes of course ambulatoire has that meaning. But here the issue was about "convocation", that is a notification to the patient to have a scan as an outpatient. Since a referral is usually sent to a specialist in a hospital, they have to notify the patient about the appointment. In this case I guess they either want the patient to receive the letter straightaway from the hospital or remind him that is going to receive the appointment details by letter at home.

chaplin Nov 15, 2016:

ambulatoire signifie une hospitalisation de quelques heures donc elle n'a pas lieu chez le malade. En anglais on dit outpatient. J'ai eus cette expéreince est ne suis pas restée à l'hôpital mais y ai quand même passé quelques heures!

Drmanu49 Nov 15, 2016:

convocation à domicile is not convocation à l'hôpital. On est convoqué à...

dwt2 Nov 15, 2016:

I took this to mean that the scan would be done as an outpatient, with the appointment letter being sent to the patient's home

Drmanu49 Nov 15, 2016:

En ambulatoire means there is no hospitalization

Shabelula Nov 15, 2016:

why "en ambulatoire" if he's having it at home, I wonder