Teaching medical students to use simple language when talking with patients.
Physicians know much about health and illness. The information is often complicated and difficult to understand. Part of the physician's task is to help the patient understand the information so that the patient may help himself. The accurate transfer of the information requires that physicians have excellent communication skills. One such skill is the ability to use language which is easily understood by the patient. This study suggests that, after preclinical medical students assume a formal teaching role in secondary schools, they are more likely to use simpler language when talking with patients during their final undergraduate year.
Cohen
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D003142:Communication; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations