The medical world is obsessed with jargon. Stay in a hospital for a few days, you will be bombarded with terms such as HbA1c, PP, glaucoma and hypokinetic loops. Yes, hospitals are passionate about bringing health to patients. Yet, they seem to be missing a point on the impact of their communication with the patients.
A doctor's prescription cannot be easily read even by the educated. The better the doctor, the worse is his hand-writing. With his added fame, it becomes the worst. However, doctors easily understand someone else's prescriptions due to their familiarity with the medical terms. Is the prescription meant for the patient or the doctor community?
Prescriptions are written in great hurry. Ornilox 1 — 1 means one tablet of Ornilox to be taken in the morning and evening. Is it before or after meal? Not sure. Can we do 1A — 1A for after meal and 1B — 1B for before meal? Can we make the communication a bit friendlier for the anxious lot of sick people through simple steps so that they can take the medicine on time in appropriate dosage?
Medical reports are Miltonian. What does one understand out of “ CT study reveals that dilated loops with slow transmit of oral contrast suggestive of hypokinetic loops – to be correlated for subacute intestinalobstruction? ” It approximately means “dilated loops with slow movement of colour fluid fed orally suggestive of less active loops – to be correlated for semi acute intestinal blockage.” Can we develop a simpler language here?
What does one make of a kidney showing symmetrical uptake of contrast and a gall bladderunremarkable ? Is it a good kidney or a bad bladder? Swelling becomes distention in reports; intestine gets renamed bowel, over-active intestine becomes hyperkinetic bowel and less active gets reworded as hypo. Urinary bladder is shown as attenuated in some reports and the spleen as enhanced in yet another one.
How does a layman or even the best of literates understand their sickness from such a report so that they can deal with it? It is finally the patient who needs a precise understanding of the sickness to fight it rather than the doctor or the radiologist. Can we get back to intestine instead of bowel or at the least show it in brackets? Can PP be shown also as “after meal sugar” and HbA1c as “three months average sugar?” Can a vegetable vendor use the term cocos nucifera when the buyer needs a coconut?
The medical world does need the terminologies for precise communication between the doctor and the laboratories. In this urge to be scientifically precise, the struggle of the patient is ignored.
Do not forget, though, hospitals are rendering an admirable service. Millions go in sick and come out healthy to live longer and contribute more to society and to their families. For this reason every hospital is a success story. Every doctor, nurse or radiologist is a life-giver. However, they can help these millions of patients fight their anxieties a bit more easily by communicating in a language that they speak or by giving an interpretation of reports that they can follow.
Hospitals have a department called “Casualty.” The dictionary definition of “casualty” is a person killed or injured. Do they kill or give life? Come on, let us give it a new name which is far more relevant — “Urgent Care Unit (UCU).” This rhymes well with Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as well.
At the end, as it is stated at the end of every medical report, let all these ideas be considered for a clinical correlation and further evaluation!!!
