Babel babble: physicians' use of unclarified medical jargon with patients

To describe physicians use of jargon with diabetes patients with limited health literacy.

We audiotaped 74 outpatient encounters and coded unclarified jargon, assigning each term a clinical function. We administered telephone questionnaires to determine if comprehension of diabetes-related jargon varied with context.

Eighty-one percent of encounters contained at least one unclarified jargon term (mean of 4/visit). Thirty-seven percent of jargon use occurred when making recommendations, and 29% when providing health education. Patient comprehension rates were generally low and never reached adequate thresholds.

Physicians caring for patients with limited health literacy employ unclarified jargon during key clinical functions.