Medical Jargon : The Communication Barrier Between The Provider And The Patient

• The accumulation of blood within the cranium, due either to head trauma or flaws in the cerebral vasculature

Communication in the healthcare field may be a little different for some people. Healthcare requires the communication to have a purpose, and that purpose is revolved around a person’s needs. A patient with good staff communication during

To have quality of care within the health care system, effective communication is needed. Barriers arise when effective communication is not meet, patients with limited English proficiency are at risk for misdiagnosis, poor treatment decisions, trust between provider and patient is not there, and patients to not adhere to treatment plans and follow up if they do not understand what they need to do (Regenstein, Mead, Muessig, & Huang, 2009).

Poor communication puts patients in danger because it can lead to medical errors and adverse events. For example, a medication error can occur if a physician’s orders are not updated in time or if the outgoing nurse does not provide the correct time in which a dose was administered last. Thus it is crucial to communicate any recent treatment that has been implemented. In this way, nurses and physicians can facilitate the prevention of errors. Another consequence of ineffective communication is that it can decrease morale and increase work-related stress among members of the healthcare team. If nurses and physicians are not understanding each other’s actions, conflict ensues. It can cause toxic interpersonal relationships. This, in turn, will affect the level of patient care because it is difficult to focus amidst emotional strain and

The World Health Organization recommends the standardized communication process, called SBAR, an acronym which simplifies a patient’s situation and background and the patient care provider’s assessment and recommendations (Wacogne & Diwakar, 2010). The situation, background, assessment, and recommendation (SBAR) protocol is a technique that provides structure for

CYANOTIC: A patient who has cyanosis, or a slight bluish discoloration of the skin due to the presence of abnormal amounts of reduced hemoglobin in the blood

My time as an Emergency Room Medical Scribe has been insightful to a point that it has solidified my career path. Prior to entering this field of work, I didn’t realize how little I had known about terminology, doctor-patient interaction, or procedures. With a behind the scenes look, I could not only view but understand the reasoning behind a physician’s medical decision making. For example, there was once a patient who had the chief complaint of abdominal pain. This patient had been to the ER multiple times in the past and after a multitude of physical exams and imaging there was nothing to show as abnormal. Hitherto, the physician I was working with had a lengthy discussion with the patient and decided to do a CT after explaining the risks.

The use of plain language helps to make the information easier for patients and health care providers to comprehend. Changing complex terms with plain language allows for a better understanding of what the information is being said. Explaining things that are too complicated for a patient to understand can lead to many misunderstandings. The literacy level of each person is different, so having the same use of terms will help the patients and health care providers to be on the same page.

If formal communication is not used in the correct environment, misunderstanding may occur, causing danger to somebody’s health. Appropriate language must also be used; Professional references, proper English without slang and clear consistent wording.

The purpose of effective communication in healthcare is to provide first-class medical care, minimal to no medical errors and have precision; and without it there is room for medical errors, poor patient care and an ineffective team that produces undesired outcome. In the professional and patient relationship, the lack of good communication causes the patient to be apprehensive in asking questions, to worry about being bothersome because they feel other patients are sicker, and there is an assumption that the patient does not have any concerns. There are barriers to communication that include only one between the sender and receiver of the message understands the message, cultural differences, and lack of education. In sending the message it is essential that the message is received with clarity, it is concise and complete. If the patient has a language barrier, it can be masked by the patient not responding to information and it is detected as a result of poor or no compliance. In literacy concerns, all information should be presented on a 5th grade level to aid in the comprehension of the information. The care of the patient should be patient/family centered which helps in detecting any language, cultural or literacy barriers (Schyve, 2007). For example, a 46 year old single male patient that is functionally literate is admitted with a diagnosis of acute angina. During the

‘Clear and complete communication between health care providers is a prerequisite for safe patient management. Which is a major priority of the Joint Commission's 2008 National Patient Safety Goals and long-term care (LCT). (Commission, 2008)

Since first year we have learned how to communicate with patients in the hospital through the proper skills that professors have taught us to use. Often, when we communicate with our patients it takes place at the bedside. Because I have been practicing communication since first year I had some idea of what it may be like when I met the family. Before my visit I wrote a number of questions that I planned to ask my family when I met them. It was challenging for me because I wasn’t sure if the questions were acceptable to ask, and I did not want to break privacy or ask inappropriate questions. During my first visit I realized that I was using nursing terminology when I was asking a question and when I was explaining an assignment.

Spelling is important in medical terminology because many things can go wrong. You could give the wrong diagnose are even cause a patient to take the wrong medication. Many doctors and nurses use abbreviations on their charts so they won't waste as much time. Many words may sound the same but have different meaning and some words have the same meaning for example stool and evacuation. That's why it is very important for anyone joining the medical field to learn as much Medical Terminology as they possible can. I think that Medial Terminology can affect the professional because one big mistake could cause them to loose their job. And it could also affect the patient because their life is on the line. One way to avoid medical errors in future

“Extensive research has shown that no matter how knowledgeable a clinician might be, if he or she is not able to open good communication with the patient, he or she may be of no help” (Asnani, MR. 2009). Effective communication plays a big role in healthcare and contributes to the quality of patient care and teamwork.

This is because the majority of the patients do not understand the language doctors’ use. For example, when the doctor stated that, when the doctor told the mother of the child that, they would try something different in the four days’ time. He did not tell her to stop giving the child the medication recommended for him. Instead, he wanted her to continue giving the medication until that four day time while they monitor his situation. I wish the doctor had used simple language like continue giving him the medication while we are monitoring his situation then we shall try something little different if the situation persists. This would have been easy for the mother of the child to understand. Thus, doctors should avoid using complicated language while communicating to patients.