Medical jargon is often misunderstood by emergency department patients

Even though medical jargon should be avoided, jargon is frequently used by healthcare professionals when discussing results or treatment plans with Emergency Department (ED) patients. We sought to determine if commonly used medical jargon is understood by patients during discharge from the ED.

This is a cross-sectional survey of English-speaking adult patients in an urban public ED (annual volume 130,000) during discharge. An 11-item closed-ended medical jargon survey instrument was administered to determine patient understanding of common ED jargon. Participant demographics, discharge communication preferences, and education level were also assessed. The instrument was piloted, revised, and administered in-person by trained research assistants. Descriptive, t-test, and ANOVA analyses were used where appropriate.

Out of 123 participants, 52 % were female, with 63 % black, 9 % white, 8 % Asian, and 19 % Hispanic. Age distribution varied: 18 % aged 18-29 years old, 31 % were 30-49, 21 % were 50-59, and 30 % were 60 or older. Only 9.7 % of participants correctly understood "impressive", 25.2 % understood "acute", 36.6 % understood "benign", and 40.6 % understood "unremarkable"; "fracture" and "negative" were understood most by 66.7.% and 69.1 %, respectively. The range of "I don't know" was as low as 5 % and as high as 34 % depending on the jargon question. In addition to verbal instructions, printed discharge instructions were preferred by 73.9 %; only 18 % preferred discharge instructions from the electronic health portal.

Commonly used medical jargon in the ED is poorly understood by patients. This can lead to safety issues including misunderstandings, errors, and non-adherence to discharge plans. To enhance safety and adherence to discharge instructions, future interventions are needed to improve our communication with all patients.