I recently heard a Family Practice Physician comment on the importance of follow-up questions. He mentioned how it’s easy to ask a patient, “Do you smoke?” and if their answer is “no,” to move on to the next issue. He said providers were “missing opportunities for follow up questions,” even though the patient had said […]
“I can’t follow my patient home:” how context matters in health communication & education
I was coaching a physician on making his patient education more effective. He was understandably frustrated, as many physicians are, over the short amount of time he has with each patient. We talked about the many constraints around patient education. His voice raised and he sounded exasperated: “I can’t follow my patient home!” There are […]
How to ditch the deficit perspective
A deficit perspective relates to the common tendency to see someone different than us as someone less than us. In this episode, you’ll learn about how common deficit perspectives are in health care some of the damage they can do two things you can do to turn away from a deficit perspective in your practice. […]
From pee-pee, to pee, to urine: the work that words do in health
I was talking with a nurse educator about the uncertainty and difficulties nursing students can face as they learn the specialized language of medicine. She said, “Because this is a different language. It’s very difficult for a student to come in and talk ‘urination.’ They’re used to saying ‘pee.’ And yet their patients aren’t going […]
So, your organization is doing unconscious bias training? Three things to consider
Just over two weeks ago, I was giving a talk at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health about addressing unconscious bias in our language. At the end, one of the questions I received from a participant was: “It sometimes takes a lifetime to create those biases, that sometimes become innate. How do [we] unlearn […]
Who are the people in your neighborhood (when it comes to health communication)?
When we’re talking about health, sometimes it can feel like we’re speaking different languages. Different groups have different ways of talking and thinking about health, wellness, and healthcare. So who’s in your neighborhood when it comes to health communication? Who do you find it easiest to talk with? And what does it take to talk […]