Patient Care and Medical Terminology
When it comes to health care, it is pertinent to understand the terminologies that accompany it. I will be reviewing the importance of medical terminology when it comes to health care, especially patient care. I will be discussing how medical terminology is integral to the strategic aspect of quality care. I will also go over how the misuse of medical terminology can affect the patient experience. I will review whether power is an element in health care. And lastly, I will go over how not understanding of this terminology can cause confusion in the health care industry would lead to ineffective troubleshooting.
When I think about the knowledge, especially medical terminology knowledge, we can take a Biblical
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medical vernacular in different medical scenarios (Pieterse, Jager, Smets, & Henselmans, 2013). The results were as follows; “Compared with incorrect understanding, correct understanding was generally related to higher confidence in understanding and to worry levels that better matched the scenarios.” (Pieterse, Jager, Smets, & Henselmans, 2013, para. 1). The results indicated that the confidence in the understanding was related to the active participation in consultations with the oncologists (Pieterse, Jager, Smets, & Henselmans, 2013). In another article “Patients ' understanding of medical terminology used in the breast clinic”, we see a similar trend (O’Connell et al., 2013). Terminology is not fully understood; “Two-thirds of patients correctly defined 'Benign ' (66%) and 'Malignant ' (65%). 1 in 5 patients correctly defined 'Chemotherapy ' (20%) and 'Radiotherapy ' (19%)” (O’Connell et al., 2013, para. 1). In the article, “Public understanding of medical terminology: non-English speakers may not receive optimal care”, this dilemma is even worse for non-English speaking patients (Cooke, Wilson, Cox, & Roalfe, 2000). A study was done evaluating 700 people, who were adequate English speaking, and evaluating their understanding of the term unconscious (Cooke, Wilson, Cox, & Roalfe, 2000). Those on the lower end of the English …show more content…
This becomes an issue because written medical pamphlets, instructions, etc. are presented at a 10th grade stratum; for older patients this becomes an issue because they will only comprehend based on their cognition (hearing and vision) (SAFEER & KEENAN, 2005). Literacy insufficient patients are more probable to be hospitalized as opposed to those who are sufficient in medical terminology (SAFEER & KEENAN, 2005). This inability would lead patients to not attend appointments due to the inability to navigate the health insurance process or it could lead to inability to adequately follow prescription directions (SAFEER & KEENAN, 2005). My deduction is that this does lead to a lack of power on the patients’ end; it leads them to having to feel lost and to guess what to do in uncertain situations which can be a risky
This is a critical review of the article entitled “Selecting a Standardized Terminology for the Electronic Health Record that Reveals the Impact of Nursing on Patient Care”. In this article, Lundberg, C.B. et al. review the different standardized terminology in electronic health records (EHR) used by nurses to share medical information to the rest of the care team. It aims at showing that due to the importance of nursing in patient care, there is a great need for a means to represent information in a way that all the members of the multidisciplinary medical team can accurately understand. This standardization varies from organization to organization as the terminologies change with respect to their specialized needs.
How would you define standardized terminologies and why are they important? Provide an example in your answer.
(2014, p. 14) due to poor communication it is one of the major problems in the medical field. This is a concern that has raised within the people working in the hospital and the common people. Poor communication has been shown an increase in death in hospitals. However, the common issue is delayed communication, which may lead to the lack of safety provided to the patients. In addition, Dekker (2016, p.44) states that the main problem in the communication systems in hospitals is among physicians. This is due to the ego among the professional people, this leads to the lack of care of the patients. This lack of communication blocks the advancement of the
Over the past few years, the health care service has seen many changes. The Affordable Care Act, for example, creating more insurance in order to care for the indigent and people in the most need of help. Health care is a very essential and necessary element of an individuals lives. The methods and preparation that is needed in order to provide adequate and efficient patient care to all is very critical and sometimes specific. The health care organization has ventured from focusing on input management to focusing and improving output management (White, 2011).
Goode, T. D., Dunne, M. C., & Bronheim, S. M. (2006). The evidence base for cultural and linguisitc competence in healthcare. The Commonweatlh Fund , 1-46.
Effective communication prevents medical errors, improve patient- therapist relationship, as well as prevents disappointments and friction. It is essential to find out the level of health literacy of an individual, as well as the proficiency in English. According to Divi, Koss, Schmaltz & Loeb (2007), there is a risk of patient 's safety due to the language barrier. Based on the study of Divi et al. (2007), among 832 English speaking patients and 251 patients with limited English fluency, 49% of the patients of their study have limited English fluency that associated with physical harm with a rate of 29.5% patients that are fluent in English are physically injured. Partially injured and death occurs with patients with constrained English proficiency (52.4%), as compared to patients with English fluency (35.9%) (Divi et al., 2007). Divi et al. (2007) suggested providing access to qualified language interpreters for patients with limited English proficiency to prevent more harm. Effective communicating is not only important to patients with limited, or inadequate English proficiency but also to individuals with impaired vision, hearing, and people that unable to speak.It is also important about the patient 's privacy. Another knowledge from the book mentioned above is effective communication regardless of individuals culture.
Understanding that all patients needed to be treated justly and given the opportunity to make decisions in their care is important. Not causing harm and preventing them from harm is also the duty of health care workers. These ethical principles are essential to keep in mind with interdisciplinary communication. Ineffective communication has been associated with medical errors, patient harm, and increase length of stay. Failure to communicate properly has been associated with 79% of sentinel events (Dingley, Daugherty, Derieg & Persing, 2008). Good communication has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, increase in patient safety, as well as a decrease in health care costs (Paget et al.,
However, health literacy is more than just read and write; it is the ability to understand and able to use health information to make choices about their health (Benyon, 2014). Low health literacy can have detrimental effect on the health of the client because it may cause misunderstand of the medical label or health information. According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), health literacy divided into three different levels which are functional, interactive/communicative and critical health literacy. As for functional levels, it is the most general and fundamental level for the general public because individuals need to receive and understand the information of health such as risk of health decision, consent forms, health instruction or medicine labels. (McMurray & Clendo , 2015) Turning to the next level, interactive/communicative health literacy, mainly involved personal skills to spread health knowledge to the community, and also , people are able to influence social norm and help others individuals to develop their personal health capacity. Because of this, understanding of how organization work and resounding communication skill which can help to support others and knowing how to get different health services other individuals need (McMurray & Clendo , 2015). The third level is critical health literacy, mainly divided to
As technology continues to evolve so does the need for healthcare facilities to continually maintain a higher level of competence that runs parallel to electronic and scientific advancement. Comparatively, the structure of hi-tech facilities, such as medical centers and clinics prepared with new amenities has enhanced the industry scale of communities by working in the healthcare arena. Likewise, technological innovations which help diagnose a variety of infections and disorders has helped in assisting patients in receiving increased quality care. As a result, patient care as a whole has positively been affected within the last decade. Furthermore, it only make sense that more personalized and precise problem-solving methods and procedures will be devised in the future. Accordingly, the following paragraphs will analyze the significance of the Meaningful Use program for nurses, nursing, national health policy, patient outcomes, and population health associated with the collection and use of the programs core criteria.
Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their complete medical history with their providers, seek preventative care, understand the health risks associated with some behaviors, taking care of chronic health conditions, and understanding how to take prescribed medications (About health literacy, 2014). It is to a certain extent the patient’s responsibility to increase their own health literacy knowledge. But to what extent can they learn on their own? Those working in the health field have been trained to navigate the health system and understand the medical terms. They have the knowledge and capability to pass on that understanding to their patients. Health care professionals have a shared responsibility to help improve patients’ health literacy.
As studies have show those who are not health literate are more prone to getting greater emergency hospitalization, bigger medical bills and errors in the medication you are given. Health literacy was used in 1974 by k. simonds, he wrote a paper on the subject for grade K-12. Goals about the importance of knowing how to determine your health and keeping it up to date, even though that open doors and people started to slowly ponder on the article written it was not until years later it slowly started being a need instead of a want. As time passes very few including the government started analyzing the importance of health literacy.
I have explained three of the seven principles that I use while interacting with my patients daily. The three methods of communication were defined and explained how each is used in the healthcare setting. The communication method that works best on my unit was explained per my unit’s preference. The four-ethical principle regarding communication were explained along with how these principles and team communication affect patient safety. Overall, this paper has demonstrated why communication is important in the health care
Jargon, a form of verbal communication, is “technical language that is specific to members of a given profession or activity or hobby group” (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, & Teven, 2015, p. 74). These doctors are aware of the situation they are in, and modify their speech to complement the setting. In simplest terms, her speech must be appropriate for the environment that she is in. For example, Claire uses words such as “brachycephalic vein” or “SVC” (superior vena cava) when presenting her diagnosis of the boy. We also see Dr. Melendez describe some medical term known as “pericardial effusion”
Street, Richard, MD. (1992). “Analyzing Communication in Medical Consultations: Do Behavioral Measures Correspond to Patient’s Perceptions?”. Medical Care, 30, 976 - 987
261). Health literacy "is defined by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Title V, as the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions (Bastable, 2014, p. 261). Literacy and health literacy, can affect the learners motivation, compliance, ability to understand discharge instructions, properly make informed decisions and so forth. Additionally, readability and comprehension must also be taken into consideration. It is crucial to the wellbeing and safety of our learners that literacy, readability, and comprehension are determined to ensure appropriate education methods and models are used. Along these same lines, Nurse Educators should also take special consideration to the learners age, gender, socioeconomic class,