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 […]
Patient Centered
Upgrade your patient education. Fast. Here. Now.
Partners, I’m proud to announce – the Effective Patient Education Audiobook Bundle This bundle will make your life easier. And it might change the way you think about patient education. You see many patients in a day and have a high level of complexity to deal with. You want patients to trust you, hear […]
Free webinar Apr 3 on unconscious bias via Columbia University School of Public Health
Hello friends, I’m so proud to offer a free webinar on unconscious bias in our language, in conjunction with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and the Region 2 Public Health Training Center. It is Tuesday, April 3 at Noon Eastern. Registration is here: https://tinyurl.com/Login2LearnAPR2018 Recent research on unconscious bias has shown how public health, […]
The more differences between you and your patient, the more important it is to ditch deficit thinking
One medical educator wrote me in response to the podcast, “How a small change in what you say can improve your patient education.” She thanked me for giving a ‘name’ to the problem that is a deficit perspective. She pointed out the tension between approaching a patient focused on the problem, and approaching a patient […]
“I don’t want to unintentionally offend people”
I was coaching a physician on communication, and at one point our conversation took an interesting turn. We had been talking about interprofessional communication, when the physician told me she was worried about offending people unintentionally. At first, I thought she was talking about her colleagues. But she also gave some examples of interactions with […]
Two things to remember before you educate your next patient
Today brings a close to a series I started a few months back, called 5 steps to improve your patient education. I promised to take a closer look at each of those 5 steps. So far I’ve written about eliciting patient background knowledge; how you handle your medical knowledge; being clear about your goals for […]