A physician was telling me about a total patient communication fail. He did not know it was a fail, until a resident jumped in and saved the day. He laughed, recounting the scene to me. He thought he was doing fine. He thought he was being clear. But when he heard the resident’s language, he […]
Health Communication
Quickly assess your patient communication with this time-tested approach
The physicians who speak with me want to be more conscious of their language. They know communication is important, and they want to know more about how language works, so they can be better doctors. That’s often why they’re talking with me. Their questions take different forms: What do I need to know about communication […]
2 ways to improve your medical metaphors
A physician was talking with me about an article I wrote on metaphors, a few months ago. He agreed it was a hot topic, and an important one to stop and take time to consider: “Metaphors and analogies are something we do casually, without much thought,” he said. “Sometimes the metaphor did not give the […]
Infographic: 11 Health literacy tips for providers
October is Health Literacy Month, and we’re celebrating! We even brought you a present: a snazzy infographic. Health literacy is kind of a big deal (but you knew that already). Still, it seems there’s not too much talk about concrete, specific steps that providers can take – to do something about improving patients’ health literacy. […]
Why addressing unconscious bias can make people nervous
Last week I was in Baltimore, at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare/Health Literacy Annual Research Conference. Every one of the keynote addresses discussed biases and stereotypes. Every one. (Biases and stereotypes was not the conference theme.) The importance of examining and addressing unconscious biases seems to be well understood in the research community. […]
If you wonder about these health communication issues, you’re not alone
When things go wrong at work–or something just bugs us–it can be easy to push these negative thoughts aside and move on. It’s especially easy to dismiss our concerns if we don’t hear others talking about similar issues. Maybe, we tell ourselves, it’s nothing. Or we assume it’s a problem no one else has. So it shouldn’t […]