Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun;102(6):1111-1118.
doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2019.02.002. Epub 2019 Feb 3.

Surgeon use of medical jargon with parents in the outpatient setting

A R Links  1 , W Callon  2 , C Wasserman  2 , J Walsh  1 , M C Beach  2 , E F Boss  3
Affiliations

Surgeon use of medical jargon with parents in the outpatient setting

A R Links et al. Patient Educ Couns. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Unexplained medical terminology impedes clinician/parent communication. We describe jargon use in a pediatric surgical setting.

Methods: We evaluated encounters between parents of children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB; n = 64) and otolaryngologists (n = 8). Participants completed questionnaires evaluating demographics, clinical features, and parental role in decision-making via a 4-point categorical item. Two coders reviewed consultations for occurrence of clinician and parent utterance of medical jargon. Descriptive statistics established a profile of jargon use, and logistic regression evaluated associations between communication factors with jargon use.

Results: Unexplained medical jargon was common (mean total utterances per visit = 28.9,SD = 19.5,Range = 5-100), including SDB-specific jargon (M = 8.3,SD = 8.8), other medical terminology (M = 13.9,SD = 12) and contextual terms (M = 3.8,SD = 4). Parents used jargon a mean of 4.3 times (SD = 4.6). Clinicians used more jargon in consults where they perceived parents as having greater involvement in decision-making (OR = 3.4,p < 0.05) and when parents used more jargon (OR = 1.2,p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Jargon use in pediatric surgical consultations is common and could serve as a barrier to informed or shared parent decision-making. This study provides a foundation for further research into patterns of jargon use across surgical populations.

Practice implications: Results will be integrated into communication training to enhance clinician communication, foster self-awareness in language use, and create strategies to evaluate parental understanding.

Keywords: Communication; Decision-making; Jargon; Otolaryngology; Pediatrics; Physician/patient relationship; Tonsillectomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations of interest: None

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Coding scheme for clinician use of jargon
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Use of medical jargon: Between-clinician variation
Overall medical jargon use, and jargon use by category
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boss EF, et al., Shared Decision Making and Choice for Elective Surgical Care: A Systematic Review, Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery(2015). 10.1177/0194599815620558. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alexander NS and Schroeder JW Jr., Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, Pediatr Clin North Am 60(2013): p. 827–40. 10.1016/j.pcl.2013.04.009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ingram DG and Friedman NR, Toward Adenotonsillectomy in Children: A Review for the General Pediatrician, JAMA Pediatr(2015): p. 1–8. 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.2016. - DOI - PubMed
    1. What’s an ENT? 2018. [cited 2018 11/28/2018]; Available from: https://www.enthealth.org/whats-an-ent/.
    1. Grime C and Tan HL, Sleep Disordered Breathing in Children, Indian J Pediatr 82(2015): p. 945–55. 10.1007/s12098-015-1857-5. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types