Accent Reduction For Medical Professionals
Increasingly, large numbers of physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals practicing in the United States are graduates of foreign medical schools and speak English as their second language. Although these professionals are highly intelligent people, and may have excellent training and comprehension of English, their speech may be difficult for patients and co-workers to understand, due to a strong accent.
Some potential situations where mis-communication may occur are when:
- making diagnoses
- providing patients with instructions for taking prescriptions and follow-up care
- giving directions to colleagues and staff
- making presentations
- building rapport with patients
When patients clearly understand health care providers, it fosters confidence in the practitioner, the treatment, and the institution. Additionally, because doctors are usually pressed for time during appointments, they may not have time to repeat themselves. If the patients did not understand what was said to them the first time, they may become frustrated and intimidated, so they stop trying to understand or to ask more questions. The patient may then make repeated calls to clarify information, utilizing more staff and physician time.
With clear communication, time is used efficiently.
In the latest issue of Consumer Reports there is an article titled, “What doctors wish their patients knew” in which they listed things like courtesy and respect, following through on a doctor’s prescriptions, forming a long-term relationship, etc. From a patient’s point of view, what they would like their doctor to know is that being able to understand what is said to them is extremely important if the doctor wants greater cooperation and participation.
By reducing foreign accents so that speech is more intelligible, better communication can result . This can enhance confidence between patients and medical professionals, mistakes and misunderstandings may be reduced, and more effective and efficient communication may take place.
