{"id":606,"date":"2020-02-17T18:18:55","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T18:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/2020\/02\/17\/dont-you-know-them-turning-the-teach-back-technique-around-on-doctors-for-patient-advocacy\/"},"modified":"2020-02-17T18:18:55","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T18:18:55","slug":"dont-you-know-them-turning-the-teach-back-technique-around-on-doctors-for-patient-advocacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/2020\/02\/17\/dont-you-know-them-turning-the-teach-back-technique-around-on-doctors-for-patient-advocacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t \u201cyou know?\u201d Them: Turning the \u201cTeach-Back\u201d Technique Around on Doctors for Patient Advocacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PatientLanguage is key at the doctor\u2019s office. Improving physician-patient communication can have huge benefits. In fact, an AHRQ study found that after implementing a health literacy initiative to improve providers skills at\u00a0UAMS<\/a>, patients self-management of disease, for instance, improved by almost 25%. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, and use information to make health-related choices. It is a dynamic state. Providers skills and system support, including the use of plain language, play an essential part in successful communication. Not long ago, health literacy was viewed as general literacy applied to medical decisions, but even a person with a PhD can be overwhelmed by a diagnosis and the choices they have to make.<\/p>\n

I am a health literacy expert helping providers improve their use of plain language. The interesting thing is that some of the same techniques I teach for doctors and other providers can be turned around and used by patients to advocate for themselves.<\/p>\n

My favorite is the \u201cteach-back\u201d technique. It is an educational tool used by healthcare providers to help patients or care takers understand what is being explained to them. It is an interactive and far more effective version \u201cDo you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

Providers use this technique to assess a patient\u2019s recall and understanding of concepts just discussed. If the patient is not teaching back correctly or completely, then the provider restates or and rephrases the message and asks the patient to \u201cteach-back\u201d again. This process continues until it is clear that the patient understands. Providers are encouraged to pay attention to body language, to not be satisfied with an answer that is just \u201cok,\u201d and to reinforce the learning by repeating key content.<\/p>\n

Well, a patient can also pay attention to those three factors and turn the teach-back around on doctors. When you, as a patient, feel frustrated that the doctor is dismissive of your symptoms, stop and repeat yourself. Don\u2019t say to the doctor, \u201cI feel this or that, you know?\u201d Instead, ask them to describe your symptoms in their own words, \u201cHow would you describe what I just said?\u201d Engage the doctor in your story the same way you would engage a friend in a conversation about your favorite TV show. Rephrase \u201cWhat do you think about so and so doing this or that?\u201d to \u201cWhat do you think about my feeling this or that?\u201d Of course, \u201cthis or that\u201d means whatever symptom you are describing to the doctor: pain, discomfort, fatigue, sadness, anger, whatever it is.<\/p>\n

You can also engage and take advantage of the doctor\u2019s nerdy side. Ask, \u201cIs there a name for this?\u201d Doctors love to turn on their inner vademecum<\/em>\u201d (A vademecum is a sort of medical dictionary you often see at doctor\u2019s offices that is kept at hand for consultation.) You may even volunteer a name or two if you have found terms you fear apply to you. (This said, don\u2019t bring to the doctor every diagnosis name you can find for \u201ccough, sore throat, and runny nose.\u201d Share your honest concern.) As a patient, though, also resist the temptation to jump to conclusions about your symptoms from what you read online. Take a deep breath and share your anxiety with your doctor. You can even ask them to teach you back if they get that, \u201cHave you seen other patients who feel this anxious about this symptom?\u201d<\/p>\n

As a side note, consider that hopping from doctor to doctor if your symptoms persist can hinder a diagnosis. Lasting symptoms can be a huge clue to figure out what is going on, and while doctors ask \u201cHow long have you had those symptoms?\u201d the \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell\u201d approach might work in your favor.<\/p>\n

Overall, remembering that health care is a dialogue and health literacy is a shared responsibility is a huge step towards better health outcomes. It helps providers up their communication skills, and patients feel empowered to take control of their care, especially when dealing with fear or uncertainty. Using the teach-back technique to confirm a doctor\u2019s understanding of your concerns as a patient can be as effective as a doctor using the technique to confirm your understanding of their explanation or instructions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Language is key at the doctor\u2019s office. Improving physician-patient communication can have huge benefits. In fact, an AHRQ study found that after implementing a health literacy initiative to improve providers skills at\u00a0UAMS, patients self-management of disease, for instance, improved by almost 25%. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, and use information to make […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,10],"tags":[25,27,28,11],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-literacy","category-plain-language","tag-health-communciation","tag-health-literacy","tag-patient-advocacy","tag-plain-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}