Encompass Health | Encompass Health
Encompass Health | Encompass Health
A Guide to Managing Your Health in Your 60s and Beyond
Cutting through the Medical Jargon: How to Talk to Your Doctor
Sometimes, interpreting a doctor’s medical jargon can feel like trying to understand a foreign language.
Most patients and families, don’t want to admit they don’t understand when a doctor begins explaining a complicated illness or condition, and instead sit quietly nodding in affirmation.
Jargon is pervasive in all professions, but it has its greatest impact when doctors try to communicate with patients. People’s lives are at stake. Healthcare professionals have their own verbal shorthand that may be highly effective when they speak to each other but causes confusion when used with laymen.
The use of jargon begins in medical school. A medical student can quickly rattle off that, “Mrs. Jones had a syncopal episode last night without any evidence of arrhythmia. I don’t think it was vagal but I ordered a 2D echo and holter. I still can’t rule out a vertebrobasilar event.” Everyone wearing a white coat understands this secret language, but as a patient lying in the bed, you may feel terrified and confused.
Medical Jargon is Everywhere
The average American reads and speaks at an eighth- or ninth-grade level, yet doctors assume that their patients will understand their obscure communication.
Multiple studies have looked at the use of jargon by doctors and the failure of patients to understand them. One study of 249 emergency room patients reportedthat 79% did not know that the word hemorrhage was the same as bleeding and 78% did not know that a fracture was a broken bone. In case you think these were illiterate, underprivileged people, 45% of the people in the study were college educated. We cannot assume that the lawyer or English professor has any more understanding than someone with less education.
What Can You Do to Interpret the Medical Speak?
There are some steps that you and your families can take so you don’t fall into the same trap that so many do. One simple program is the “Ask Me 3” program that provides you with three questions to ask your doctor.
- What is my main problem?
- What do I need to do?
- Why is it important for me to do this?
- If you do not understand what your doctor is saying, immediately stop them and ask them to use simpler language. Don’t pretend that you understand when you do not.
- Tell the doctor what you think they said to be certain that you understood them. This is called a “teach back.”
- If you feel you need more time, ask to schedule another visit in the near future. This may be a telehealth visit and you will have the opportunity to have others listen in and help you.
- If the doctor is busy, ask if there is a nurse or assistant who can answer your questions.
- Take a trusted friend with you for another set of ears and even to take notes.
- Ask who you can call if you still have questions when you get home.
Alerts Sign-up