The Joint Commission tries to bridge healthcare literacy gap
Accreditation Connection, February 12, 2007
On February 7, The Joint Commission released a white paper entitled What Did the Doctor Say?: Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety. This paper explores physician use of medical terms in communication with patients and the many challenges this creates for patients.
The paper offers strategies for dealing with and changing this practice. Part of this is making sure a patient understands his or her care in all areas of the hospital. Another part is pushing for the government to make its own policies regarding clearer communication.
Although the Joint Commission has already launched it's "Speak Up" campaign to address communication issues between patients and their doctors, health literacy (knowledge of health care terminology) may not be addressed by it. The paper tries to get across the point that what may seem clear to physicians is often unclear to patients and patients are not always comfortable addressing their concerns with doctors.
To read the full paper, please visit The Joint Commission's homepage.
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