The Patient’s Education
Working in a hospital with so many highly-educated patients that seem to know more about their diseases than we do, I think we probably run a greater risk of making assumptions about our patients’ education, intelligence, and vocabulary.
Many times I’ve noticed doctors, even when trying to explain things in “English” (as opposed to medical-ese), start using terms like “distal” and “proximal,” and patients start to get a look of confusion on their faces. I try my best to stick around and explain things better to the patient, but many times I don’t even think we realize we’re doing it. Even words like duodenum and common bile duct I would imagine could be very confusing. I assume that most patients have heard of the liver, the intestines, the stomach, and the pancreas, but don’t have a clue how they’re connected, where they are, or what they do. This has nothing to do with their intelligence or ability; they’ve just never felt the need or had the interest to learn. Many were probably never taught about them.
I’ve been thinking about carrying around some pictures of the abdomen to show them to patients and explain their problems and the surgical procedures to correct them. It’d probably go a long way to making them feel a little bit more in control of their care and their bodies.
I agree on the picture point. Sometimes you feel like the doctor is dumbing it down too much, but I’d rather it be dumbed down than me not understand it. I recently had abdominal surgery and found the charts and pictures very helpful. It’s not only helpful for the doctor to communicate with the patient but for the patient to communicate with the doctor. We don’t always know how to accurately describe where something is or how to identify something. So having a picture allows us to point to the specific area and ask our questions. It cuts out on a lot of beating around the bush. The patient needs to be able to accurately give the doctor all the information about our symptoms and we don’t have the vocabulary to do that sometimes. Pictures are our friends.
Pictures are extremely helpful, even for those of us who are well-educated about our conditions. As are models. I had an orthopedic surgeon that had a plastic model of the knee and described to me exactly what he was going to do.
One of my attendings kept some line drawings of anatomy around for the patients and he was nice enough to let me photocopy them. I love to draw for my patients to explain procedures, pathology, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t draw…. AT ALL. The line drawings really helped a lot. I always left the room feeling like I had helped in my own small med student way.
you might want to check out http://www.medicalwizards.com if you have a PDA.
I’m a NICU nurse, so I know the vocabulary, and I mostly know the anatomy. I still appreciate pictures. I always tell my physicians that I may know the vocabulary, but I’m WAY out of my area of expertise and I’d appreciate if they keep that in mind.
Besides, when you’ve just waked up from general anesthesia, for example, you don’t process information very well for several days. When you’ve just been informed that you have cancer, you don’t process information very well for several weeks. Months, maybe. Anything that improves clarity is most welcome.