by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Tag: doctor patient communication
How blame-ridden language betrays patient-centred health care
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
A recent editorial in the medical journal The Lancet (coincidentally, celebrating its 200th anniversary milestone this year) revisited a subject that’s been niggling at me and many others for years: what the authors called blame-ridden language – which they describe as being “pervasive throughout medicine.”(1)
Unintentionally hurtful words tripping lightly from the lips of physicians seem to be a routine part of medical life. For example, when doctors say harmless-sounding things like “Patient claims her pain is 10/10” , it implies that the patient is lying. In the real world, we would say “She is experiencing 10/10 pain”.
Or consider the word deny: “Patient denies having fever or chills.” In the real world, that word also hints at this patient being untrustworthy. As one patient clearly explained to researchers in 2021: (2) “I did not DENY these things. I said I didn’t feel them. Completely different! Language matters.” .
Continue reading “How blame-ridden language betrays patient-centred health care”
Diagnostic uncertainty: when we just don’t know
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
The image above is all about uncertainty. It’s like a 5-step roadmap that you’d use when traveling an unfamiliar road to a new destination you know nothing about and do not want to visit.(1) For people experiencing scary symptoms they fear might be heart-related, for example, uncertainty about what’s happening now and what will happen next is pervasive. But a new study published in the journal Patient Education and Counseling reminds us that patients aren’t the only ones facing uncertainty around a medical diagnosis: “Both patients and clinicians experience diagnostic uncertainty, but in different ways.”(2) . . Continue reading “Diagnostic uncertainty: when we just don’t know”
Discordance: when patients and docs aren’t on the same page
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
In her Netflix comedy special, “Not Normal”, Wanda Sykes recalls having severe post-operative pain following the double mastectomy she underwent after her breast cancer diagnosis. She asked hospital staff for pain medication, but was offered only ibuprofen (or, as Wanda now describes it, “ibu-f***ing-profen!”) Her white male friends, by comparison, told her that they’d each been given far more effective meds for far less severe pain after their own hospital procedures.
Her recommendation to women now is: “Bring a white man to do your complaining for you! ” That’s pretty funny. But we all know that the reality is not funny at all. . .
Continue reading “Discordance: when patients and docs aren’t on the same page”
Heart Sisters 