Medical Lingo
I teach workshops around the country for people interested in the field of healthcare advocacy, either in becoming an advocate for others or learning how to advocate for oneself. Because there are a mix of medical professionals and consumers in these workshops, I need to be sure that I refrain from using “medical lingo” so everyone can understand the course content easily. It has been harder than I thought to do this!
What is it about the world of healthcare, where someone leaving the hospital is “a discharge” and we talk about surgeries as a Whipple Procedures or a CABG (pronounced “Cabbage”)–and we use that language with the patients and clients we work with. How easily that language slips out! What I am realizing is that the world of healthcare is a foreign language–just as the worlds of insurance or accounting or law are separate languages. And people entering the universe of healthcare, under stress, without knowing the language or having an interpreter to guide them–end up under even more stress. We end up sounding like an exclusive club–and that’s not good healthcare delivery.
So what can we do? Drop the medical language when talking with patients and clients. Draw pictures instead; talk about risks and benefits to whatever is being considered; don’t be rushed in explanations; involve the individual and their family in a discussion that is exactly at their level of understanding. It’s up to healthcare professionals to figure out and match that level. So the focus is on us speaking our client’s/patient’s language, not the other way around.
A Puzzle, A Mystery…and A Workshop
I’ve been ready Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw and found his chapter on puzzles and mysteries very intriguing. He says we want life to be like a puzzle: if only we could find that one piece, everything would fit together and be clear. Instead, it’s a mystery with many pieces missing and needing to be arranged and re-arranged to find a solution.
And healthcare is a prime example.
If you cut your finger, that is a puzzle: we know, if it’s a minor cut, it needs…washing, perhaps an antibiotic ointment, maybe a band aid. If it’s major, it may require stitches. But if you are diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome or an irregularity of your heart beat, that is something different. There are no pat answers: you need to do a lot more investigation and thought, along with your healthcare team, to figure out the best treatment options. This is a time when healthcare advocates can be of so much help to people. It’s the mysteries we can help most with, by showing people how to problem-solve, interpret the information they’re receiving and make a decision.
These topics are some of what is included in the curriculum of Healthcare Liaison’s “Becoming a Private Healthcare Advocate” workshops. The next one will be at UC/Berkeley on February 27th and 28th. You can look at the course description at www.healthcareliaison.com/workshops.
The Blog is Back!
After several months absence–and many wonderful developments–I am resuming the Healthcare Liaison Blog! It was a very busy fall…
Healthcare Liaison is expanding the 2010 locations for for its popular two-day workshop “Becoming a Healthcare Advocate: 11 Steps to a New Career in Healthcare”. These workshops are open to consumers, professional healthcare advocates, those teaching in the field and policy and legislative interests. We have new locations!
SEATTLE, WA–January 30 and 31st
BERKELEY, CA–February 27th and 28th
TUCSON, AZ–March 20th and 21st
BOSTON, MA–May 1st and 2nd
The links will take you to the brochure describing the workshop and you can complete payment on-line with a credit card or PayPal. There are still spaces in the Seattle workshop and registrants are eligible for a referral bonus when they “bring a friend”.
In other major news, we have a professional organization! I founded the organization, the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants, in July 2009 and am now the President of NAHAC for 209-2010. You can read about the Association and join at NAHAC
In November 2009 the newly-formed National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants held its First Annual Conference! NAHAC currently has 62 members and membership is open to everyone: professional advocates, consumers, academicians and policy and legislative participants. Members who were not able to attend the conference can listen to the podcast on the web site and hear workshops on case studies, HIPAA for advocates, insurance-made-understandable and more. to join: NAHAC.
We are holding our second annual Conference in Washington DC in November 2010. Join NAHAC to get the details as soon as they’re released!
Healthcare Advocacy Workshop in October
Becoming a Private Healthcare Advocate
11 Steps to a New Career in Healthcare
Healthcare Liaison is presenting a workshop for healthcare professionals who would like to be trained in private healthcare advocacy and for consumers who need health care guidance.
The Beautiful Clark Kerr Campus of UC Berkeley
Google Map for Clark Kerr Campus
October 17th & 18th, 2009
Clark Kerr Campus
Berkeley, CA
Workshop Daily Schedule
8:30 a.m. check in and coffee
9:00 a.m. workshop begins
noon-1 p.m. lunch (on your own)
4:30 p.m. workshop ends
For detailed brochure and to register on-line, please go to www.healthcareliaison.com/workshops
Upcoming Workshops for Professionals
Healthcare Liaison is presenting a workshop for healthcare professionals who would like to be trained in private healthcare advocacy and for consumers who need health care guidance.
The Beautiful Clark Kerr Campus of UC Berkeley
Becoming a Private Healthcare Advocate
11 Steps to a New Career in Healthcare
May 2nd & 3rd, 2009
Clark Kerr Campus
Berkeley, CA
Workshop Daily Schedule
8:30 a.m. check in and coffee
9:00 a.m. workshop begins
noon-1 p.m. lunch (on your own)
4:30 p.m. workshop ends
Workshop Brochure (752K PDF)