Abstract
Patient understanding of health care recommendations provided by health care professionals is essential to enabling active and informed patient participation in care. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that patients often seriously misunderstand relevant health information provided to them, leading to errant patient decisions about their care. This commentary examines key communication factors that influence patient understanding and argues for a comprehensive approach to assessing and promoting patient comprehension.
Highlights
Patient understanding of health care recommendations provided by health care professionals is essential to enabling active and informed patient participation in care
Commentary Promoting patient comprehension of health care recommendations is essential to the effective delivery of health care
The process of explaining complex health issues is challenging for many health care providers, who need to communicate with culturally, relationally, and situationally sensitive language and examples that patients can understand and actively seek feedback from patients to assess their levels of understanding [5, 6]
Summary
Patient understanding of health care recommendations provided by health care professionals is essential to enabling active and informed patient participation in care. Patients often misunderstand relevant health information provided to them by health care practitioners, leading to dangerous errors in following recommended care plans [1,2,3]. Comprehension of health information to increase understanding about the intricacies of consumer-provider health communication and to improve effective dissemination of relevant health information.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
