Communication Skills Mentoring Program

Communication Skills in the News

Source: AAOS Headline News

Date: July 29, 2003

Patients don't understand what doctors are saying says literacy group

According to the Institute for Healthcare Advancement, an health literacy group in LaHabra, California, physicians, pharmacists and other medical professionals talk and write at an 11-th grade reading level, far beyond the 6-th grade level understood by the majority of people in the U.S. This leads to inferior outcomes and billions of dollars in unnecessary healthcare costs. The group also said that medical professionals talk too fast and use too much jargon when discussing diagnoses and treatments with patients.

The situation may change as medical licensing bodies begin to test clinical skills competency this year. The test will measure how well aspiring doctors interview and communicate with patients. The day-long test, which will be administered in five approved sites (Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia), will consist of a series of patient encounters during which students will take a medical history, perform physical examinations and communicate effectively.

For more information: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58760-2003Jul28

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