Health Literacy

Restaurant workers say "on the fly" and "86" on a daily basis. Others have no idea what that means. Every field has their own lingo, but the use of most of that lingo never affects anyone in a bad way. If a server says "86 the mayo," no one will be any worse off because of it.

In health care, however, it's a different story. There is a medical language that takes years of school to fully understand. Since most health care professionals have been through all of the schooling necessary to learn the lingo, it is commonplace to them and they use it in day-to-day interactions.

The problem with this is when they forget to translate what they're saying into something their patients can understand. Most health care professionals forget that this is even an issue because they have forgotten what it's like to listen to someone spout off something at them and have no idea what was just said. It's hard to go back to before they had the knowledge they do, and explain what they have to say in a manner that will make it easy for anyone to understand.

So how can we solve this problem? It's obvious that patients and doctors/pharmacists/nurses/surgeons/etc need to be able to communicate and fully understand each other. Without a full understanding, there will continue to be a high number of mistakes and misunderstanding that could majorly affect a patient's life. Even the relationship between manufacturer and patient can be difficult. Instructions on bottles often make little sense or are so dense with information that the necessary information can't even be located.

One thing I know it that health care professionals need to continually work on that most important word: care. They need to take time to listen to their patients' complaints and acknowledge their worries. The need to come up with a plan to take care of the patients' medical problems, but in doing that they must make certain the patient fully understands certain things like how they should take it, what they're taking it for, and how long they're expected to stay on it.

Imagine two people. Both are 25 years old. One has played basketball competitively for many years; the other has never seen a basketball before. One is going to fly through a basketball drill with ease while the other one will fumble around foolishly. One will leave with a great sense of accomplishment; another will leave embarrassed and discouraged. One will have known exactly what was going on during the drill; the other will still be confused and never really understand what happened during the drill.

Apply this analogy to a patient and a doctor. Can you see how a doctor's visit can be experienced in two very different ways by different people? Obviously navigating health care won't be as difficult for some people as it is for others, but that doesn't mean we can just overlook it.


A friend linked me to this video that talks about this topic. While it's a bit dated, we still face the same problems they show.


As a patient, what do YOU feel can be changed to make health care make more sense? What are some times that you feel like a complete health care klutz? Is there anyone that is a part of your care team (doctor/nurse/pharmacist/etc) that you feel can help you understand if you have problems?

If you have time, I'd really like to know your answers. As a student, I have obviously seen health care professionals go from driven young people to overworked workers in a matter of years. It's no different from other careers- people get burnt out doing what they do. But as health care professional we can't let our level of care slip because we have forgotten what it's like to really care if our message gets through. I'd love it if you can offer me some insight. Thanks!