When three of her siblings were diagnosed with the same rare and debilitating chronic illness, Karen Komondor, RN, CCRN, sprang into action. Over the next two decades, she supported them through countless hospitalizations, surgeries, and specialty office visits. Despite having medical training (she and two of her sisters are nurses), Komondor and her family often felt lost in the medical maze.
“I found myself overwhelmed and frustrated by all the jargon that was outside my field,” Komondor recalls. “There was so much confusing language and miscommunication.”
Most of us know how it feels to leave a medical appointment more confused than when we arrived. Rushed appointments, unfamiliar medical terms, and information overload often collide with the heightened emotions that can arise when we face health challenges. Patients can misunderstand or forget as much as 80 percent of what they hear as soon as they leave the exam room, according to multiple studies.
Nearly 90 percent of Americans struggle to some degree to achieve health literacy, which is the ability to effectively access, understand, and use health information and services to make healthcare decisions and take action. Gaps in health literacy can have serious consequences, including medication mishaps, poor healing, and delayed care.
Beyond general health knowledge, health literacy comprises skills ranging from evaluating health information and using technology to navigating insurance and financial issues. Health-literacy experts say that effective communication — including the ability to speak up, ask questions, and advocate for yourself — is among the most important of these skills.
We asked some of these experts to share a few simple, practical ways to make your next encounter with a healthcare provider more effective — whether you’re managing a chronic condition or getting a routine checkup. By deploying a few key practices before, during, and after your visit, you can better understand your options, make more-informed decisions, and feel more confident in your care.
10 Health-Literacy Skills for Your Next Medical Visit
Before Your Appointment
1) Have an agenda.
Especially if you have specific health concerns, take time to consider what will make this appointment successful, advises Benjamin Bullen, ProfD, a lecturer in wound care at Monash University in Australia: “Is it information? Is it somebody to listen? Is it an answer or some description?”
2) Prioritize your questions.
It can be easy to forget all the things you want to ask during a hurried appointment, so write down your most important questions before you arrive and bring the list with you. Try to anticipate what might come up in the appointment, such as reviewing test results, discussing a diagnosis or treatment plan, or receiving referrals, suggests Jennifer Woodruff, MHA, founder of Patient Better, a health-literacy resource for patients.
3) Bring someone with you.
If you are navigating a challenging situation, it’s helpful to have a trusted friend or family member in the room to provide support and be a second set of ears. “You never know when you may find yourself in a situation that’s overwhelming,” says Komondor, who now consults with providers and organizations to reduce communication barriers in healthcare.
During Your Appointment
4) Take notes.
Don’t rely on your memory or the after-visit summary to capture everything. Use the voice memo or video feature on your phone to record the appointment. “You should feel empowered to use whatever means will support an accurate record of your visit,” says Sarah Greene, MPH, a healthcare researcher who specializes in clinician-patient communication.
Or if a friend or family member is with you, ask them to take notes while you focus on the conversation, she suggests.
5) Ask for clarification.
Unless your clinicians have been trained in health-literacy skills themselves, their medicalese can get lost in translation. “There are an awful lot of Latin terms and jargon in medicine,” notes Bullen.
Advocating for yourself may involve asking clinicians to repeat, simplify, or explain things differently. If in doubt, ask, “Can you say that again in plainer language?”
6) Teach it back.
Clinicians may ask you to describe what you’ve heard in your own words (a health-literacy technique called “teach-back”). But you don’t have to wait for an invitation. Before moving on to a new topic, Komondor suggests interjecting with: “Just to make sure I’m clear . . .”
You can also use this time to explore how and when you will take recommended actions — or note problems with the plan. “Your provider has knowledge and expertise, but they may offer a solution that doesn’t fit your life,” says Komondor. For example, if your child needs to take a medication three times a day, and the second dose falls during school hours, say something. There may be an another option.
7) Review handouts before you leave.
Look at your after-visit summary and instructions while you can still ask questions in person. Are you clear about the next steps? Do you know how to administer the right dose of a new medication? Do you know what “eat a healthy diet” means in your circumstance?
Also make sure that you have the contact information for your clinician’s office in case you need anything between appointments.
After Your Appointment
8) Log into your patient portal.
Ensure that the notes in your electronic health record match your understanding of the appointment. You might also review test results and other clinical information (note that you may receive test results before they’ve been reviewed by your doctor). If there’s anything that’s confusing or seems to be missing, send a message to your provider.
9) Be health-media savvy.
Health information and misinformation abound. Without medical training and data-analysis skills, it’s easy to be confused when you do your own research. Becoming a more critical reader of health information, including of clinical studies, is part of health literacy.
“Anyone can call themselves a doctor on the internet,” says Bullen. “A large part of my role is helping to interpret information.” If you’re curious or concerned about something you find online, bring it to your next consult. You could also send your provider a question through your patient portal.
10) Use tech wisely.
Advances in artificial intelligence are rapidly changing how we access and engage with health information. Tools like ChatGPT can sometimes help you better understand your care. But this tech is largely unregulated, and not all AI-generated information is accurate or relevant. Use digital sources to supplement — not replace — professional advice. (For more on how AI can impact your healthcare, read on.)
The Promise and Perils of AI in Healthcare
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we interact with health information — and how clinicians interact with us. Used wisely, it can support clearer communication and boost health literacy. But there are risks, and AI is no substitute for human connection, clinical expertise, or your own critical thinking.
We asked Tracy Mehan, MA, director of research translation and communication at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, about how AI can make a positive impact on our own healthcare and what caveats we should consider.
AI in the Exam Room
Benefit: Some providers use ambient listening software to transcribe medical appointments in real time, enabling doctors to focus more on their patients, explains Mehan. “It lets them step away from the screen so they can really hear you and interact with you, because they know the conversation is being recorded.”
Be aware: Ask if your clinician uses this kind of tool and, if so, how your privacy is protected. In this rapidly changing environment, HIPAA compliance and data security may vary, she cautions. You have the right to say no to AI use in the exam room.
AI in the Patient Portal
Benefit: Some portal platforms use AI to help generate after-visit summaries or replies to patient messages, enabling providers to respond to more inquiries more quickly. Mehan explains that any AI-crafted message in your patient portal should have been reviewed by your clinician before being posted. (Check with your healthcare provider if you’re unsure about their policy.)
Be aware: Electronic health records (EHR) systems that utilize AI may not be developed with health literacy in mind, and their responses may feel technical or unclear. If a message in your patient portal doesn’t make sense, follow up to get an answer you understand.
AI as Medical Translator
Benefit: Generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, can be powerful allies if you use them skillfully, says Mehan. They can summarize medical information into plain language. “You can even ask these tools to create learning modules to teach you about a diagnosis or generate questions to bring to your next appointment,” she adds.
Be aware: These tools are superpowered predictive-text machines, she explains. They can’t read your mind, and they are limited by the questions you ask — as well as by how accurately they were trained. So don’t ask one question and take the response at face value. “Ask it to ask you questions so it can clarify your needs and give you better information,” Mehan suggests. Then fact-check what you find with a medical expert.
AI as Research Assistant (Not as Expert)
Benefit: AI can go deeper into medical literature more quickly than humans can. “I’ve heard stories of patients who’ve struggled for years with some sort of health condition, who put their symptoms into ChatGPT and all of a sudden have a potential diagnosis that hadn’t been considered,” Mehan notes.
Be aware: While AI-generated possibilities can feel empowering, they can also be biased by how their large language models were trained. AI can also hallucinate — inventing research and results that don’t exist; and with federal research funding slashed, AI results may contain outdated information. (This is why you should never stop at the “AI Overview” displayed on a web search, Mehan cautions.) Use AI to spark discussion with your healthcare provider rather than to self-diagnose.
This Post Has 0 Comments