A few months ago, I decided to conduct an informal survey. I’d begun thinking about the relationships between health literacy research and health care workers’ everyday practice. Since I often get to talk with physicians one-on-one, I decided to ask the next few physicians I encountered a simple question: When you hear the phrase ‘health […]
Health Communication
Providers: your words may have more power than you realize
I was recently speaking with a woman who has Stage III ovarian cancer. We were talking about the language that gets used around cancer and other terminal diseases. She retold one conversation that stood out to her, because of her surgeon’s careful use of language: “He said, ‘Y’know it’s gonna get us in the end.’ […]
A practical way to address unconscious bias in language
Over the course of last year, I spoke several times with an African American male physician. At one point, we were talking about his professional journey in medicine. He mentioned that he had learned to be more comfortable with, as he put it, “…being the only Black person in the room. Hearing ‘How did YOU […]
Infographic: Quickly assess your patient communication
What do I need to know about communication to be better at it? I hear this question, in one form or another, when speaking with health care professionals. And there’s no wonder why. When you’re dealing with so much complexity, your words have got to be clear. Getting a grip on your patient communication is essential. […]
What is the emotional impact of your patient communication?
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 […]
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 […]