Effective healthcare provider-patient communication is a central clinical function in building a therapeutic relationship between providers and their patients, which is foundation for high-quality medical care. Most often, patient dissatisfaction and complaints are due to breakdown in communication throughout the course of care.
On June 14, FierceHealthcare reported that the words doctors use when talking with diabetes patients can have a big impact in a patient’s success in controlling the disease. Diabetes educators who recently presented at an American Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego said healthcare providers should use neutral and nonjudgmental language that is based on facts, action or physiology/biology. Language that could be construed as putting down or discouraging should be avoided. The educators said negative language could lead to patients losing confidence in managing their disease.
“Using statements of affirmation to recognize a person’s strengths, efforts or successes builds one’s confidence in their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices that are vital for managing diabetes. If a patient comes in that has been showing poor control, a statement such as “In spite of your A1C numbers not being in the ideal range, your coming to the office today shows your interest in understanding how your day-to-day choices affect your management of your diabetes. Let’s talk about the days when managing your diabetes is hard for you,” stated Denise Kolba RN, MS, CNS, Regional Task Lead for the Great Plains Quality Innovation Network.
“Language conveys meaning and can reflect bias that will affect outcomes, even when you’re not aware of it,” said Susan Guzman, Ph.D., a clinical and research psychologist at the Behavioral Diabetes Institute in San Diego.
The Great Plains Quality Innovation Network is one of 14 Quality Improvement Organizations that strives to improve the quality of services provided to the Medicare population. Our team consists of Master Trainers and content experts available to assist in developing a referral system, training leaders and facilitating diabetes self-management education workshops. For more information, visit our Web site and connect with one of our internal team members.