Recently I realized I’ve become bilingual. I’ve had the amazing opportunity over the last two years to work in England and learn the nuances between American English and British English, American healthcare and British healthcare. It was during a recent training exercise with my London team that I recognized the journey I’d been on and was taking them on.
I’ve been working in healthcare for 40 years and we have our own combination of dialects, languages, acronyms—oh the acronyms, abbreviations and terms. Add to that the combination of languages represented.
I’ve been very passionate about healthcare literacy for most of my career and in a unique position to see healthcare in so many of its facets, platforms and services. I went from making Easter bonnets with the punch cards my grandfather brought home from his job at IBM to the excitement when my boss announced we’d be getting an IBM AS400, not to mention having to clean out the room it consumed.
I can remember being one of the first home care stores to install an electronic system and part of the first home care pharmacy to deliver in our rural area. I am still choked up thinking about the patient who came back from vacation thanking me because I assisted them with the purchase of an ED device—revolutionary at the time and long before Viagra etc. And, the couple who would swing by every day to say hi and drop off a cup of coffee. She’d not left the house in years because of her condition and didn’t think they could afford or get insurance to pay for a wheelchair.
Preparing for my current programme needs and working to assist my colleagues as I help them navigate an implementation for the first time in 20 years, I’m again reminded—that no matter our experience, knowledge or education—it is so simple to misunderstand and communication can be made more difficult than it needs to be. There was a time when I thought the fancy medical terms I knew and acronyms I could string together made me sound smarter, more important and perhaps more of a leader. I know today how immature a thought that was. One of my mom’s favorite sayings was KISS—Keep It Simple… She was a smart lady.
Listening to our patients (and colleagues) and understanding their communication needs are key to ensuring they understand the message. Healthcare communication really includes these three phases: we need to get information, provide information and make sure they understand information. To do this best, we all need to be communicating on the same level in the same language. I use the term “language” here loosely meaning words and references that are understandable to all.
Looking across my career, so much has changed, evolved and healthcare is delivered in a totally different way. The goal has always been to improve and get better. However, as we continue to look for ways to do this—use of EHR technology, AI and other tools—we need to continue to remember that at the heart of this effort are our patients and patient families. The language of care needs to be a language they can understand and know what action to take to improve their health.
Editor’s note: During HIMSS Global Health Equity Week we are honored to share unique perspectives of CereCore colleagues who have firsthand experience in how healthcare technology can become a great equalizer in providing quality patient care to communities around the world. Hear the provider perspective on The CereCore Podcast with Dr. Aaron Parker Banks in the episode Happy Doctors and Technology: A CMIO and Practicing Physician's POV.
More resources on health literacy
Health Literacy and the Patient Portal: Start Assessing Your Community and Facility
