Are you getting through? - Many patients may not understand what you give them to read…and they don’t read…what did you say doc?

Medical Economics discusses the issue, and one comment I have to add on my own and one of my own personal pet peeves, is that people do not read. Anyone that has spent enough time around me will probably say that I am a broken record in this area, but it is so very true, and I’m not just talking about the patients, doctors too, and highly educated individuals.

Being a blogger I spend more time reading probably than 10 people all grouped together and nobody should have to research and read to the wicked extent that I do, but come on folks, leave the television or computer game for maybe 10 minutes time every day. Sometimes too, though, especially if it is not pleasant news, we do tune out, and that is just human nature to a degree.

Let’s face it, the communication areas between physicians and patients is more strained today than it has ever been, not the fault of the patient, and not necessarily the fault of the doctor, it is what it is. When you have a family practice physician needing to see 20-40 patients a day to keep the doors open, he/she does not have the individual time to perhaps verbally cover everything with you in that 15 minutes, so as a patient, read up and work with the program. Everything you know today about healthcare and taking care of yourself is not going to come out of that 15 minutes session.

Recently I posted about the FDA having some valuable resources, guess what, You Tube Videos, and those can be helpful too. The physician on the other hand had to determine what information may work best for his patients too, and that in itself takes their time, when not seeing patients to evaluate and come up with the best game plan, so their work goes on even after all the patients have left for the day.

Sometimes there are language barriers too and once more the Internet can help there too as Google can nicely translate a page for you, all you need is the nice Google toolbar, and this is only one example Sometimes patients pretend like they get it too, and that’s another issue, usually information overload or denial. Yes is a pain to have all the printed items around and I get lost in all of that myself and I even wish the junk mailers would quit sending all the stuff to my house as I have a garbage can right next to the mailbox so it doesn’t even make it’s way any further. I wish some would think about saving a tree here and there.

In my opinion, this is an area where personal health records might just come in handy as the relative information can easily be searched and connected to a chart. Things are working in this direction already. If is is there for us to access quick and easy, there’s a better chance of someone reading it. All of us are like that and gosh knows we all hate that paper clipboard wanting the same information over and over. BD

“If you think patient literacy isn't a problem in your practice, think again. A 2004 Institute of Medicine report found that one out of two adults has problems understanding patient education literature, forms they're asked to complete, medication instructions, and information the doctor tells them about their health conditions and treatments.”