As defined by Google’s English dictionary, Jargon means “special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand”.

 

We’ve all been in situations where we feel like a stranger in a strange land.  We may be in a new job or social situation, or we may be at a first appointment with a new healthcare provider.  We may be a nurse on the phone with a banker, trying to figure out our personal retirement investment strategy. Suddenly it seems like we can’t understand a word of what is being said to us or around us. Everyone else appears to know all the inside scoop and we feel two inches tall, groping blindly in the dark. 

 

Even though it may feel that way, it’s doubtful that people are intentionally malicious or trying to keep others ignorant. It seems to be a human condition that new information appears hard until we learn it, then it feels like ‘common sense’.   When we’ve been in an industry for years or decades, we come to rely on the shortcuts, acronyms and buzzwords that simplify daily communication between colleagues.  We don’t think of our language as full of jargon because we know it so well. We forget that to an uninitiated ear, we might as well be speaking Greek.

 

In addition to having specialized vocabulary, we may not realize that different industries use the same acronyms for different things.  For example, in Pediatric Endocrinology, MDI means Multiple Daily Injections, while in the insurance field, MDI stands for Mortgage Disability Insurance. The Free Dictionary lists 75 different meanings for the acronym MDI.  https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/MDI

 

If you’re talking to a farmer, the acronym CRP probably means Conservation Reserve Program, so if a physician tells the farmer he needs to have his CRP (C-reactive Protein) checked, he might scratch his head in confusion. For anyone who’s done any building, a 2 by 4 is a measure of lumber, not a square of gauze. 

 

If a healthcare provider tells a patient they need an MRI, they ask, “what does that mean?”, and the answer stops at “Magnetic Resonance Imaging”, the question hasn’t been answered.  Many patients feel intimidated in the face of the medical establishment and are afraid to appear ignorant.  Even as a nurse, I have felt tongue-tied when trying to think of an intelligent way to ask the question that will elicit the information that will satisfy me.  The best explanation of an MRI I’ve ever heard was given by a colleague in Pediatric Neurology.  She told parents that an MRI shows soft tissue in the body, so when we want to see what might be causing seizures in a child, an MRI is the best tool for looking inside the brain. We should all communicate so clearly! 

 

Learning about Health Literacy is a way to improve our communication skills. A new idea in the 1970s, it has been gaining momentum worldwide since the 1990s. https://healthliteracy.com/2022/10/01/brief-recap-of-health-literacy-history/

 “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) addresses both personal health literacy and organizational health literacy in their new Health People 2030 definitions:

• Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.

• Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.”

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When working with patients

DO:

• Find out if the patient needs an interpreter. If so, wait for the interpreter to arrive before continuing the conversation. Find out if the interpreter has had training in medical terminology.

• Find out what the patient’s background is – do they have any medical experience? What kind?

• Watch for telltale signs that the patient doesn’t understand:

– look of confusion

– smiling and nodding

– blank expression

• If unsure whether your message was understood, say, “let me say that a different way.”

• Familiarize yourself with Health Literacy and approach every teaching opportunity with your patient’s needs in mind.

• Have written material that has been reviewed and edited by a non-industry person to make sure it is clearly understandable.

• Have written material in the patient’s native language, also reviewed by a native speaker for understandability.

• Let the patient know you welcome their questions and will take the time to make sure they understand.  Ask, “What questions do you have?”

 

 DON’T:

• Don’t think the patient “should” understand what you are saying.

• Don’t assume the patient isn’t very bright if they are having a hard time understanding.

• Don’t repeat the same words in a louder voice.

• Don’t use acronyms or abbreviations.

• Don’t give up in frustration before your message is understood

 

HEALTH LITERACY RESOURCES:

 

https://www.hrsa.gov/about/organization/bureaus/ohe/health-literacy

 

https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-communications-public-liaison/clear-communication/health-literacy