Abstract
BackgroundPatient-physician communication should be based on plain and simple language. Despite communication skill trainings in undergraduate medical curricula medical students and physicians are often still not aware of using medical jargon when communicating with patients. The aim of this study was to compare linguistic communication skills of undergraduate medical students who voluntarily translate medical documents into plain language with students who do not participate in this voluntary task.MethodsFifty-nine undergraduate medical students participated in this study. Twenty-nine participants were actively involved in voluntarily translating medical documents for real patients into plain language on the online-platform https://washabich.de (WHI group) and 30 participants were not (non-WHI group). The assessment resembled a virtual consultation hour, where participants were connected via skype to six simulated patients (SPs). The SPs assessed participants’ communication skills. All conversations were transcribed and assessed for communication skills and medical correctness by a blinded expert. All participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire on their communication skills.ResultsAcross all raters, the WHI group was assessed significantly (p = .007) better than the non-WHI group regarding the use of plain language. The blinded expert assessed the WHI group significantly (p = .018) better regarding the use of stylistic devices of communication. The SPs would choose participants from the WHI group significantly (p = .041) more frequently as their personal physician. No significant differences between the two groups were observed with respect to the medical correctness of the consultations.ConclusionWritten translation of medical documents is associated with significantly more frequent use of plain language in simulated physician-patient encounters. Similar extracurricular exercises might be a useful tool for medical students to enhance their communication skills with respect to using plain language in physician-patient communication.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0594-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Patient-physician communication should be based on plain and simple language
Online assessment We developed an online assessment as a quasiexperimental study design with an intervention group and a control group to evaluate undergraduate medical students’ communication skills with respect to patient centered use of plain language and correct consulting
The findings of this study suggest that voluntary translation of written medical documents into plain language for real patients is associated with a significantly greater use of plain language in simulated oral physician-patient encounters
Summary
Patient-physician communication should be based on plain and simple language. The aim of this study was to compare linguistic communication skills of undergraduate medical students who voluntarily translate medical documents into plain language with students who do not participate in this voluntary task. Every physician should use plain and simple language while communicating with patients. Another systematic review showed a significant association between clinical outcomes and physicians’ use of plain language [5]. Lay people often do not fully comprehend medical information provided due to medical jargon being used by their physicians when talking to them [6]. Medical jargon can be perceived as having negative connotations or may be understood in an unintended way by lay people [7]. Residents asked to talk with standardized patients about breast cancer or prostate cancer explained only 15 percent of the medical terms used in these conversations [10]
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