Medical Jargon That May Confuse Rather Than Educate

Many healthcare providers create patient-facing content and webpages that serve multiple purposes, such as:

• Explaining how and where to access care

• Helping patients understand their healthcare benefits

• Providing information about important preventive screenings and care

• Sharing a library of health topics and self-management tools

Unfortunately, sometimes they miss the mark by using medical jargon that the average person may not understand. When 205 volunteer adult survey participants at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair were shown two scenarios of a physician giving information in a healthcare setting, one using medical jargon and the other in plain language, 91% preferred the latter.¹ The physician using simple language was more often perceived as caring, approachable, and a good communicator, while the physician using medical terminology was seen as uncaring, confusing, and too technical.

The National Resource Center for Health IT lists the following best practices to consider when developing patient materials and webpages:

• Assume little or no understanding of the body and the health care system

• At or below 6^th grade reading level

• Avoid medical jargon, acronyms, and abbreviations

• Explain unavoidable technical terms

• Short sentences using familiar 1-2 syllable words

• Use numbers rather than percentages (e.g., 1 in 10 instead of 10%)

• Write in “active” rather than “passive” voice (“John took the pills”, instead of “The pills were taken by John”)

• Use white space, bullets, and clearly labeled graphics; “chunk” similar information

Here are some commonly used medical terms and suggested substitutions:

 ^{1.  Allen KA, Charpentier V, Hendrickson MA, et al. Jargon Be Gone – Patient Preference in Doctor Communication. Journal of Patient Experience. 2023;10. doi:10.1177/23743735231158942}