As you might expect, I often talk with providers about their patient communication, and sometimes those providers are physicians. As with any providers, physicians have their own reasons for seeking some communication support. For instance, one physician put it to me this way: “I do some of the right stuff you’re talking about, but I […]
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Health literacy as an interaction, Part 2
“We’re burned by, ‘Tell ‘em what they need to know, and hope they heard.’ It’s the cultural legacy…” A surgeon told me this when we were talking about health literacy. His candor startled me. He went on to make the point that he was convinced he (and his colleagues) could be doing better. Despite […]
Two structural concerns that can bog down interprofessional communication
I was talking recently to a health administrator about communication between different groups in the hospital system. He said, “Interdepartmental communication has been historically very difficult. There were different incentives that made working together something people didn’t want to do. If your department didn’t make the numbers, you’re in trouble, you’re the one out of […]
Health literacy as an interaction, Part 1
On this date, 14 years ago, Louise Rosenblatt died. She was 100 years old. Louise Rosenblatt was a researcher in reading and writing for nearly the entire 20th century (!!) and into the 21st. Maybe you’ve heard of her. If you haven’t, a Google search for her will yield about 3 billion results. So I’ll […]
5 Tips to help your interprofessional communication
Over the last six weeks, four different health care professionals have asked me about interprofessional communication. Two were public health administrators, one was a medical educator, and one was a physician-administrator. All four were in different organizations. I don’t know why the sudden uptick. But I am taking notice, and taking this chance to share […]
One thought on health communication and chronic disease
“Well, like the food for instance, it wasn’t a very extensive list of what you could eat, it was very limited and most of the food I eat wasn’t on it…” (participant, Carolan Gill & Steele 2012) You can’t be in health communication and health literacy without hearing about chronic disease, non-communicable diseases, and disease […]