Most of us have been in the doctor’s chamber at some point in our lives. Again, most of us have looked up health information online. How many times have we understood what the doctor or the website said at one go?
Speaking for myself, the smug look on the faces of doctors as they rattle off their medical jargon is simply irritating at best. (“Why can’t he talk human?”) It was confusing and scary one time, as an aunt lay in the Intensive Care Unit and my mind fogged up with all the jargon.
Medical information is not something you flip through to pass time. You need it to make important decisions about your health, understand how to take a certain medication, or use a medical device. You often need the information in a jiffy. And, if you can access it confidentially, all the better.
The National Health Service understands all of this. One look at their website and it left me wondering when we could have something like this for Indians in Indian languages. While that may be some time away (!), let’s take a look at how this British government agency went about translating medical information into accessible, plain language.
Preferring the accurate term to general information. The NHS style guide prefers to say, “4 out of 5 people recover fully in a week,” than say, “You have a good chance of recovery”. The former way of saying it gives the patient a clearer idea of the recovery period than the latter option does.
Even when health information is hard to put across directly, it still needs to be done. And hence, the NHS says, “You are positive” versus “Tests indicated cancer cells still remained”. Unclear language can only cause more anxiety and confuse the patient.
Using the colloquial term over the technical. The NHS does not hesitate from using terms such as ‘pee and pooh’. It argues that these words are widely and correctly understood, rather than the technical term ‘urine’ which might be restricted to people with higher literacy.
But while choosing the common word, the NHS is careful to avoid those that might bring in ambiguity. Like ‘wee’ and ‘stool’. People who use voice technologies might confuse the word ‘wee’ with ‘we’. And, for some people, stool is only something to sit on.
It’s not that the technical term is never used in NHS content. When they have to use the word ‘urine’, the NHS’ content designers make sure they explain it. For instance, “a poo sample (stool sample)”. This way of educating the user helps them understand the technical terms which they might hear form their doctor.
Doing solid user surveys. The ‘pee-pooh’ decision was based on a survey of over 10,000 website visitors. The overwhelming response was in favour of common words, though some people said they didn’t like such words. It also looks at Google search results for synonymous words that people search for.
This level of detailed research is possible only because of a top-down push for plain language. The research places the content authors on firm ground when they make their decisions on terms to use.
And, one step further. One of the hospitals in the NHS network has asked its doctors to communicate with their patients in plain English. It suggests that doctors avoid Latin terms, acronyms, and convoluted language. It has also come up with a guideline for doctors on how to write clearer outpatient letters. It says, “In the Problem/Diagnoses list, you may use some medical jargon. However, use plain English when possible. For example, use ‘kidney’ instead of ‘renal’. In the body of the letter, you can explain jargon, such as with ‘You have an irregular pulse. This is called atrial fibrillation.’”
Those working in health communication must always bear in mind that jargon and acronyms used in healthcare are largely not understood by the people they care for. Avoiding jargon means you are being more patient-friendly, not dumbing down.
The NHS believes there are no conditions that can’t be explained in plain language. It has set the benchmark and provided the guidelines. The journey to clarity in health communication just got more doable.
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