Patient communication: Simplicity is best

In general, most doctors fall into 2 categories when it comes to patient communication. There is one group which tends to make everything extremely complicated. They use a lot of technical medical jargon, and often will end up mystifying patients by overcomplicating explanations of the disease process and treatment options. In contrast, the second group of doctors are the simplifiers, who get to the heart of the matter by focusing on communicating key information and stripping away all of the superfluous details.

“A good doctor, like a good teacher, takes a top-down approach when talking to patients.”
-Aniruddha Malpani, MD, medical director of Malpani Infertility Clinic in Mumbai, India

This second group of doctors tend to be able to communicate much more easily and effectively with patients. The information that they share tends to be “stickier”—patients remember the key messages because of their...