The words that doctors use to their patients make a difference. They can help or hinder efforts to reduce health care disparities. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to strive to use inclusive language and avoid labeling people. To that end, this article offers six principles of inclusive communication that mental health practitioners should keep in mind.
The words that doctors use to their patients make a difference. They can help or hinder efforts to reduce health care disparities. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to strive to use inclusive language and avoid labeling people. To that end, this article offers six principles of inclusive communication that mental health practitioners should keep in mind.
During the morning rounds, the patient, a 29-year-old woman immediately told me that she did not want to be called “hypertensive.”
“It makes me very nervous, nervous or both,” she said. “I’d rather people say I have a history of high blood pressure.”
When patients express their preferences, I listen carefully and make notes in their charts so that I and other caregivers respect their wishes. A strong relationship with the patient leads to better results.
For medical practitioners, these texts serve as a reminder that the person before us is an individual with unique wants and needs beyond their medical conditions. Using inclusive language and avoiding labeling people with similar conditions, such as “hypertensive” or “diabetic”, also reduces bias and diversity. Other examples include using “disabled person” instead of “disabled person” and “diabetic person” instead of “diabetic patient” and avoiding “suffering” when referring to people. with chronic diseases.
The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates taught, “First, do no harm,” a principle often quoted in the medical profession. While doctors have sworn to value this over the years, only in recent years have we begun to fully understand how the words we use with our patients can both help and harm them.
Many studies have shown that how health care professionals talk to patients – and to them – can affect their mental and physical health as much as the health care they receive. One recent analysis of more than 18,000 patients found that negative descriptors such as “resistant” or “noncompliant” were 2.5 times more likely to appear in the electronic health records of Black patients than White patients. , which raises concerns about stigmatizing language and the potential for exacerbating racial and ethnic health disparities. Although such biases can clearly lead to discrimination in health care, research also shows that when physicians provide socially, culturally, and technologically appropriate information, outcomes often improve.
As physicians strive to address America’s health care disparities in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, they must focus not only on clinical quality, public health management, and appropriate technology, but also on culturally responsive care, and there is how to communicate with the patient. Here are six principles of inclusive communication that we should keep in mind.
1. Consider the impacts of discrimination.
Avoid perpetuating health inequities by considering how racism and discrimination unfairly harm people; Avoid saying that a person, community, or population is responsible for their increased risk. Instead of adjectives like “vulnerable” and “high risk,” consider descriptors like “marginalized” or “low resources.” Instead of racially coded words like “inner city” or “city”, define the area itself (“downtown” or “downtown”).
2. Address systemic health inequities.
Engage with communities to develop culturally appropriate, impartial communication strategies that promote good health and build trust through listening and shared decision-making. Instead of using words with violent connotations like “target,” “deal,” or “war” when referring to the health conditions of individuals, groups, or communities, consider words like “address,” “cure,” or “manage,” which also works.
3. Remember intersectionality.
Many people belong to more than one group and may experience health and social inequalities; Also, there are group differences and not all members are the same. A Kaiser Permanente study found that people from different parts of Asia have significantly different chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Read also : Uncivil Politics – Journal – DAWN.COM. For example, people of Filipino descent were twice as likely to have diabetes than those of Chinese descent.
4. Recognize diversity.
Use language that is accessible and meaningful to the community you are trying to reach and tailor the intervention based on their unique circumstances. This may interest you : Sales of video games in the United States fell by 10% in the first half of 2022. Emphasize positive solutions that demonstrate community strengths and recognize that some may not follow public health recommendations because of cultural norms, beliefs, or practices.
5. Promote health literacy.
Provide accessible health materials in patients’ languages, train health professionals in best practices, and review health materials such as insurance forms and treatment instructions with community members to ensure they understand the information and actions to be taken. . To help communicate with patients respectfully, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed the Health Equity Guiding Principles for Inclusive Communication, which the American Medical Association has used as its comprehensive, evidence-based guideline for equity communication. Read also : Health Memory System wins marketing awards | News, sports, work. and an inclusive language. .
6. Keep in mind that context matters.
Language is constantly evolving, and context is always important – what works for one doctor and their patient may not work for another, and what works for a group of people may change over time.
We must always respect the preferences of our patients. This includes using personal pronouns such as “they/them” when speaking to and about non-dual patients and providing context for such use in written materials.
At my healthcare organization, we regularly review and revise our editorial protocol for internal and external communications, based on updated guidelines and the preferences of the people and communities we serve. Examples of words we have recently changed include “Black” (now always capitalized) and “Latino/Latinx” (use “Latinx” only if preferred by a particular person). To promote gender neutral language, we also talked about the words we use in our management roles – for example, “board chair” instead of “chairman.”
As we understand and address the inequities, structural racism, and injustices faced by the marginalized populations we serve, health equity has become the watchword of modern health care. That comes from a commitment to providing equal – as well as high quality and accessible – health care, and a responsibility to choose our words carefully when communicating with our patients. In doing so, we take great steps towards helping, rather than harming.
