Communicating with patients

As a young doctor, I have a question. Why is there this push for medical staff to use "layman's terms" just so people can grasp their own diagnoses? I realize medicine is an incredibly dense and complex field, but some things simply need to be understood clearly.

Hey stormyridge36,
isn't that just how you get closer to the patient? I mean, why on earth would you expect a doctor to be expected to master the jargon of a lawyer or an engineer???
Given your level of education, I'm sure you've realized just how many people out there in America aren't exactly well-informed—it’s unfortunate, really—but that doesn't mean they shouldn't at least understand what they're actually suffering from. Take my situation, for example: I was told directly that my father-in-law is battling glioblastoma, and that we’d need to prepare for the fact that it's located in his left temporal lobe, plus the added complication if a recurrence happens down the road. What kind of conclusion is a layman supposed to draw from all that if it isn't explained clearly???

stormyridge36 said:As a young doctor by profession, I'm wondering why medical staff need to speak in "layman's terms" just so people can understand their own diagnosis. I get that medicine is an incredibly complex field, but some things simply should be known.

You are the textbook definition of a spoiled brat who has absolutely no clue what he's doing. How can you even say something that stupid without feeling ashamed? Patients don't come to see you because they're healthy... they come because they're sick and they need help. Rest assured, you're probably the last person on earth most people would actually want to see, but they show up because they don't have any other choice... and you treat them like nothing more than a checklist. I might have understood if you had thirty years under your belt... but you're young and already this rude and dismissive? Unbelievable. Man, you picked the wrong career. I usually encounter cold people like you in management or business, not in medicine. Maybe take a moment to rethink why you're even doing this job and what a medical degree actually stands for.
And yeah... I'm in the medical field too, and I just got my own test results today that I don't understand at all... even the specialist wouldn't read them to me; they just told me to wait for the Chief of Medicine, and I won't even see him for another month. So go ahead, keep lecturing me! It's not like I want anyone to be sick, myself included... but God, I hope you find yourself in line one day, waiting for your own results, feeling completely confused and terrified, only to be told to come back in a month while you sit there staring at a piece of paper you can't make sense of.
!

stormyridge36 said:As a young doctor by profession, I’m curious why medical staff are expected to use "layman's terms" just so patients can understand their own diagnosis. I realize medicine is an incredibly complex and intricate field, but certain things simply need to be understood.

I have a suggestion for you, because the answer to your question can only be found by practicing medicine out in the field.

Apply for a GP position somewhere in Central California. Trust me, within a month, you'll have your answer.
My suggestion might sound stupid or provocative to you, but I'm speaking from the experience of a relative who works as a general practitioner on an island near Boise. You’ll become an incredible diagnostician and encounter medical cases you could only ever read about in the NSB.

My relative often mentions how she learned more about medicine in one year of working on that island than she did during all of medical school, and how she now realizes that real medicine is field-based teamwork. Medicine is a beautiful science where humanism and natural science intersect in such a perfect, subtle way. As a humanist, you possess the gift of empathy, communication, and the ability to interpret what natural science strictly dictates to a layperson; as a scientist, you grasp those miraculous processes occurring within the human body. If you lack either of those gifts, you will struggle to ever be a complete or truly great physician—there isn't a single medical school or professor in existence who can teach you that. To be a doctor, you need a bit of that Renaissance *homo universalis* spirit, and you only truly begin learning medicine after graduation, which merely provides the foundation. Real learning happens in the trenches, on your own, among the people to whom you are dedicated.

I hope you have what it takes to be a good doctor.🙂

stormyridge36 said:I'm a young doctor by profession. I want to know why medical staff need to use "layman's terms" just to understand a diagnosis, for example. I get that medicine is an incredibly complex field, but some things just need to be known.

You're an idiot!!!

One simply ought to demonstrate a sense of empathy and genuine understanding. It truly matters little which language one chooses to speak, or indeed, what dialect is being used.

Look, I’m well aware of how things work. I'm not an idiot. I was simply interested in hearing your take.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and the feedback

It seems a colleague is being attacked through no fault of their own... a person has every right to an opinion, even if I don't personally agree with them...
As one of my professors used to emphasize—and likely still does: you truly understand a subject only when you can explain it to a layperson who has no clue about medical terminology. It is the same principle here; the goal isn't to show off a fancy vocabulary to people in need, but to actually heal them. That requires a level of interaction that simply fails if both sides cannot understand one another... If anyone happens to post a medical term that cannot be explained in plain English, please

The new guy will learn. He’s just getting his feet wet—let him find his rhythm, because we all move at different speeds.

Please, this guy doesn't even know basic slang, let alone anything technical 🙂 and what kind of expertise is this 🙂 "young doctor"????? 😲

stormyridge36 said:I realize medicine is a complex field, but certain fundamentals are non-negotiable.

So that’s your entire medical expertise, then?

Learning how to actually talk to patients and why it matters—that's what they teach you in med school.

Laura Martin73 said:that's basically all you know about medicine

How to actually talk to patients—and why it matters—is stuff you learn in med school.

Honey, plenty of students don't pick that up right away. There’s time. You'll get there—don't sweat it.😁

Michelle Cook83 said:Honey, most students don't learn that stuff right away. There's plenty of time. They'll figure it out eventually, don't worry.😁

Sure, and plenty of people post mindless garbage too.😘

Laura Martin73 said:Look, honey, half the people on here just post total nonsense anyway. 😘

Trying to teach Neuk is a lost cause.😉