Patients' understanding of medical terminologies

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine patients' understanding of medical terminology. The study focused on the way information was provided by nurses and doctors on everyday basis during ward rounds. The study was conducted in surgical wards of the local general hospital. In order to address the aims and objectives of the study, a small-scale descriptive exploratory design was adopted. The number of participants was that of 11 patients. One participant was approached for the pilot study. From the participants (N=10) that were selected for the main study, n=6 were males and n=4 were females. The age group of the participants was between 25-65 years. For the purpose of this study observation and interviews were adopted from the researcher for data collection purposes. Findings show that doctors used much more medical jargon than nurses. Comparisons between male and female patients were also made. Results showed that females (n=4) had a better knowledge of terms in this study by understanding 60% of the mentioned terms. On the other hand males (n=6) understood 40% of the mentioned terms.