Surgeon use of medical jargon with parents in the outpatient setting.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Unexplained medical terminology impedes clinician/parent communication. We describe jargon use in a pediatric surgical setting.

Methods

We evaluated encounters between parents of children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB; n = 64) and otolaryngologists (n = 8). Participants completed questionnaires evaluating demographics, clinical features, and parental role in decision-making via a 4-point categorical item. Two coders reviewed consultations for occurrence of clinician and parent utterance of medical jargon. Descriptive statistics established a profile of jargon use, and logistic regression evaluated associations between communication factors with jargon use.

Results

Unexplained medical jargon was common (mean total utterances per visit = 28.9,SD = 19.5,

SUBMITTER: Links AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6525640 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature