Patient Education Miscommunications: Part 1

You walk out of the doctor's office, a handful of pamphlets and a new prescription in your bag. Your head is swimming with information about test results, lifestyle changes, and medication side effects. By the time you get home, you realize you can only recall a fraction of what the doctor said. Was it one pill a day, or two? Should you avoid salt, or was it sugar? If this experience sounds familiar, you are not alone.

This post-visit fog is a common and consequential problem in healthcare. A recent observational study looked into this exact issue, analyzing audio recordings of 189 real outpatient visits to understand what factors influence a patient's ability to recall critical information. While the study found that patients ultimately recalled about 85% of their doctor's recommendations accurately, the researchers uncovered specific factors that explained why some information sticks while other crucial details get lost.  The results suggest that forgetting your doctor's instructions may have less to do with your memory and more to do with how the conversation itself is structured.

The biggest opportunities for improvement to support patients understanding of their medical needs are:

1. When the Provider Talks More, You Remember Less

2. Information Overload Disproportionately Harms Less-Educated Patients

3. Proven Communication Techniques Are Rarely Used

Why is this? There are various reasons as healthcare providers we sometimes fail at ensuring our patients completely understand their medical plan of care, and don’t always follow-up with our patients, and I will highlight more details in the next few parts of this topic. The good news? ThriveIN is here to support you and your family to ensure everyone understands the plan of care, translates medical needs, and helps to enhance communication with providers!