In medical communication, language is a vehicle to share knowledge and information, but also an important tool to communicate complex topics to non-expert audiences.
Strong communication skills are essential for medical communicators but are equally important for health care providers and researchers who may regularly communicate with patients. Properly used language can strengthen the relationship between patients and experts, change a person’s view of medicine and science for the best, and improve trust.
To improve communication with patients and other non-expert audiences, professionals such as medical writers, clinical researchers, and health care providers should focus on eliminating insensitive idioms and replacing them with more empathetic language.
Example
Avoid words such as fight or battle when referring to cancer or other illnesses. They may come across as aggressive and insensitive to those who have a disease. Also, people may not want to hear that a loved one who died from a disease lost a battle, which might imply they didn’t fight hard enough.
Choose softer words and expressions such as dealing with or be specific and refer to treatment and diagnosis.
Want to learn more about selecting the right word for the job?
Explore Evergreen’s posts on Word Usage.
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