Communicating When Naked: Lessons Learned as a Patient via Health Literacy

Communicating When Naked: Lessons Learned as a Patient

Health Literacy: 7.01.2019 by Helen Osborne

Too many friends and family members are dealing with serious medical issues these days. In their honor and on the 14th anniversary of dealing with my own, I am sharing some lessons learned from my perspective as a patient. These tips are brief excerpts from my Health Literacy from A to Z book in the chapter, “Communicating When Patients Feel Scared, Sick, and Overwhelmed” and an On Call column I wrote in 2006, “Communicating when Naked: My Perspective as a Patient.

Talking about health and other medical matters had always been easy for me. As an occupational therapist and health literacy consultant, I felt confident and in charge of conversations no matter which professional “hat” I was wearing. But after a routine mammogram turned out not to be so routine, I felt more than hatless. I felt naked. Now I had to communicate not as a provider or consultant, but as a patient. I was often so flooded with emotion that I had trouble thinking and remembering. Eventually conversations got easier and I learned what I needed to know and do. I learned something else, too. Health literacy truly matters—to all of us who are, or ever will be, on either side of health conversations. Here are some tips and lessons learned:

Invite family members or friends to act as advocates.

Overcome communication barriers.

If you use hearing aids or eyeglasses, bring them to your appointments.

Learn only as much as you want to know.

Create your own medical record.

Tests, test results, and medical instructions

Print-outs of patient education materials

Medication lists, healthcare proxy, and other important papers

Questions to ask, with space to write the answers

Extra pages for notes or whatever else I want to remember

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