14.AI FOR OBGYN: How to Explain a Diagnosis at a Patient Appropriate Reading Level

Our patients understood about 40% of what we say. Here is how to fix that.

Your patient understood about 40% of what you said. Here is how to fix that.

Studies consistently show that patients retain about 40 to 80% of what their doctor tells them during an appointment, and of what they do retain, a significant portion is incorrect. This is not a failure of intelligence. It is a failure of translation.

We are trained to speak in medical language. It is precise, efficient, and shared among colleagues. It is also opaque to most patients, especially when they are frightened, overwhelmed, or simply unfamiliar with the vocabulary.

The 7th grade reading level benchmark exists because it represents the level at which most adults are comfortable reading under stress. Not the level of adult intelligence -- the level of comfortable comprehension when someone is anxious, processing difficult news, and trying to remember what to tell their partner when they get home.

Claude is very good at this translation. Here is how to use it.

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