Medical Vocabulary Knowledge Among Hospital Patients

Samora, Julian; Saunders, Lyle; Larson, Richard F.

doi:10.2307/2948804

Cited by 88 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Others (Redlich, 1945;Pratt et al, 1957;Seligmann et al, 1957;Samora et al, 1961;Riley, 1966;Ley and Spelman, 1967;Plaja et al, 1968) have conducted statistical studies of patients' understanding of medical terms and diseases, but many of these tended to concentrate more on patients' knowledge of the aetiology, treatment, and prognosis of certain diseases than on their ability to agree with the majority of doctors over the more basic issue of definition. Samora et al (1961) concluded that 92-8% of their group of patients had an "adequate" knowledge of the word "constipated," and Riley (1966) found that 57%' of his sample correctly identified 7 or more of 12 foods containing sugar or starch. In another series (Plaja et al, 1968) 94-9%/, of outpatients had "exact knowledge" of the meaning of "a drug or remedy" and 79.8 % had "exact knowledge" of the term "diarrhoea."…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Difference Between Patients?? and Doctors?? Interpretation of Some Common Medical Terms

Boyle¹

1970

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Difference Between Patients?? and Doctors?? Interpretation of Some Common Medical Terms

Boyle¹

1970

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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“…47 A study by Samora et al on knowledge of medical vocabulary among patients from a public general hospital reported that only 35% of patients understood the word "orally", 18% had a good understanding of the word "malignant" and 13% understood "terminal". 57 Kilbridge et al sought understanding of terms commonly used in prostate cancer and found that less than 50% of men with prostate cancer understood common terms used in written materials such as "erection" and "impotent". 56 Moreover, only 25% of patients understood "bowel habits" and a mere 5% of patients understood "incontinence".…”

Section: Communication Issues That Hinder Understanding and Informed mentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of health literacy in oncology

Koay

Schofield

Jefford

2012

Asia-Pac J Clncl Oncology

117

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Health literacy refers to one's ability to obtain, process and understand health information and services to enable sound health decision-making. This is an area of increasing importance due to the complexity of the health system, especially in the cancer setting. A certain level of health literacy is required for patients to fully understand health information and services to make sound decisions about their health care, including decisions about screening and treatment. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of the population may have limited health literacy. Suboptimal health literacy is an independent risk factor for poor health outcomes, including increased risk of hospitalization. Cancer patients with poor health literacy may have misconceptions about their disease and ineffective communication with their health professionals, leading to unnecessary interventions, under-treatment or poor adherence to their treatment plans. In addition, cancer patients who have a poor understanding of their disease may experience greater anxiety and be more dissatisfied with their care. Various strategies have been suggested to assist cancer patients with low health literacy. However, more work needs to be done to support all cancer patients with varying levels of health literacy, thus enhancing health experiences and health outcomes.

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“…Almost all patients (98 percent) understood vomit, yet only about one-third (35 percent) understood orally and just 18 percent and 13 percent had adequate understanding of malignant and terminal, respectively. 50 Many words that physicians consider to be "everyday language" may not be clearly understood by the general population. 49,54,57 One study noted that while physicians believed they were switching to everyday language when communicating with patients, the physicians' patients and nurses did not perceive this.…”

Section: Low Literacy and Provider/patient Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6,49 Multiple studies document patients' misunderstanding of common medical terms. [50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Samora et al 50 assessed patient comprehension of the most commonly used health words found in transcripts of physician-patient interviews performed in an acute care setting.They found a high variation in comprehension levels of cancer treatment terms. Almost all patients (98 percent) understood vomit, yet only about one-third (35 percent) understood orally and just 18 percent and 13 percent had adequate understanding of malignant and terminal, respectively.…”

Section: Low Literacy and Provider/patient Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Literacy and Cancer Communication

Davis

Williams

Marin

et al. 2002

CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

565

492

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Health literacy is increasingly recognized as a critical factor affecting communication across the continuum of cancer care. We reviewed research on health literacy and examined its impact on cancer outcomes and communication. According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), considered the most accurate portrait of literacy in our society, about one in five American adults may lack the necessary literacy skills to function adequately in our society. As patients, such individuals are at a disadvantage in their capacity to obtain, process, and understand cancer information and services needed to make appropriate health care decisions. Patients with poor health literacy have a complex array of difficulties with written and oral communication that may limit their understanding of cancer screening and of symptoms of cancer, adversely affecting their stage at diagnosis. In addition, these barriers impair communication and discussion about risks and benefits of treatment options, and patient understanding of informed consent for routine procedures and clinical trials. More research is needed to identify successful methods for educating and communicating with patients who have limited health literacy. Based on our own experience, we offer practical communication aids that can help bridge the cancer communication gap.

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Medical Vocabulary Knowledge Among Hospital Patients

Cited by 88 publications

References 0 publications

Difference Between Patients?? and Doctors?? Interpretation of Some Common Medical Terms

Difference Between Patients?? and Doctors?? Interpretation of Some Common Medical Terms

Importance of health literacy in oncology

Health Literacy and Cancer Communication

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