The Language of Doctors and Patients
Language, the form of human interaction uses words in a contrived manner, either in writing or verbally. Generally speaking there are about 7,000 languages in the world that depend on the process of semiosis. Without semiosis it would be quite difficult to understand how each individual converses with others within modern day society. The structure of language remotely relies on semantics, sounds, symbols, and grammar. Every unique individual has their own expression of the language in which they live in. The expression of language can define a person in cultural, ethical, and social manner. In essence, language can be a person’s most sacred thing which they carry.
The way doctors converse for example, use a different language than their patients. Doctors use a medical lexicon because they are scholars in medicine. Patients on the other hand, generally speaking, have an average, basic lexicon. For example, doctors refer to the word negative meaning something is regular, patients know the word means something positive, not negative (this can also refer to sociolect). Due to the language differences between the doctor and patient it is hard to communicate amongst themselves. Doctors need to realize even that they are in fact, eruditely educated and have a higher class within society, that the patients always come first. Doctors tend to forget that they also went to school to learn how to treat patients with love and care, and to build trust. Without trust a doctor can establish no bond with any given patient.
A patient can feel discouraged or not smart enough to understand what the doctor was talking about in regards to a remote diagnosis. Patients tend to get intimidated when a doctor te...
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Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
Bentancourt et al. (2005) allows asserts that there are three distinctive reasons why cultural competency is so very important for the American healthcare system. American is composed of a very diverse population, which mean healthcare providers will continual be exposed to treating individuals from various backgrounds and from various cultures; their beliefs regarding their health or healthcare may range widely. When patients have a deficiency in the English language, proper healthcare delivery becomes increasingly more difficult as they will present symptoms in the syntax of their culture and their first language. Also, research shows the communication between the patient and their provider directly correlates to their satisfaction as well as their responsiveness or willingness to follow the health provider medical instructions; this ultimately affects the patient’s health outcome (Bentancourt et al., 2005). It’s fair to say that a successful health outcome is also contingent upon the interaction of the health provider and patient. Reports generated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) – “Crossing the Quality Chasm and Unequal Treatment, confirms that cultural competence that focuses on the care of patient through
Author(s): Judie Newman Source: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Oct., 2003), pp. 817-826
“More than 25 million Americans speak English “less than very well,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and more than 60 million speak a language other than English at home. This population is the least likely to receive preventive care, have access to regular care, or be satisfied with their care. Patients with limited English proficiency are much more likely to have adverse effects from drug complications, poor understanding of diagnoses, low health literacy, and a greater risk of being misunderstood by their physicians.” (Juckett and Unger, 2014) One of the most critical part of medicine is passing down the correct information to the patients.
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Stress, anxiety, and vulnerability can be present in both parties at the first encounter. It is important for the doctor to be in a state that is gathered, calm, attentive, and ready to receive information. The ability to create an environment of trust, respect, and security where the patient can adequately share health conditions, concerns, and goals is a skill that doctors should develop precisely. The doctor-patient relationship is important because it has a statistically significantly outcome on the patients’ prognosis (Kelley, et al., 2014).
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