This paper provides an in-depth and holistic description of the significance of English language use for a community of university hospital professors in a public university teaching hospital in Algeria. The research follows an exploratory qualitative study methodology. The participants included 26 community members who agreed to take part in focus group interviews, in addition to complementary in-depth interviews and field observations. The study revealed a complex linguistic situation that is characterized by multilingualism, diglossia, code switching, and code mixing. English is used in the traditional domains of research publication and dissemination but has also expanded to the formerly French-medium medical domains such as professional, vocational, educational, and social communication. Community members’ need to use English is motivated by their attempt to integrate into the international medical community through the practice of a variety of skills and tasks organised as domain-related task repertoires. The use of information and communication technologies and participation in international medical conferences have also increased the need for English language use. These results can be used for future ESP research on English for medicine involving the design of English for medical purposes curricula, materials and assessment models, and data collection instruments.