Via Research Recognition Day Program VCOM-Carolinas 2025

Clinical Educational Research

Training Medical Students in the Use of Lay Language When Obtaining Informed Consent Megan Wickwire, B.S., OMS-II , Spencer Franklin, M.A., OMS-II, Samantha Underwood, B.S., OMS-II VCOM – Carolinas, Dept. of Simulation and Educational Technology, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Dr. Tom Lindsey, D.O., FACOS, CHSE, Stacey Stokes, Director of Standardized Patient Program Introduction Results Discussion

Effective communication is pivotal to providing quality healthcare, yet a significant barrier exists between physicians and patients due to the dense medical lexicon often employed in clinical settings. Medical students, while extensively trained in medical terminology, frequently struggle to translate diagnoses and treatment plans into language that laypersons can easily understand 1 . Medical students do not overestimate their patients' understanding of medical terminology but rather lack the practice and confidence in their ability to breakdown complex concepts in a digestible fashion 3 . Integrating communication training into medical education could mitigate such challenges. Programs that focus on patient-centered communication and plain language strategies have shown promise in enhancing students' abilities to convey complex medical information effectively 2 . Researchers have recognized the need for such programs to include more direct feedback to students when practicing communication techniques 4 . This study seeks to determine if practicing obtaining informed consent and receiving immediate feedback will help medical students develop skills to more effectively communicate and obtain informed consent from patients in future encounters. • 26 first year medical students (n=26) participated in an optional 20 minute collaborative workshop on how to properly deliver and obtain informed consent for a shoulder injection procedure • Workshop facilitators instructed participants on how to obtain an informed consent and participants were then able to practice with immediate feedback from their peers and session facilitators • Weeks after workshop participation, students conducted standardized patient encounters, during which they were required to obtain informed consent for an arthrocentesis • Videos of the encounters were analyzed for the 26 participants and a control group of 26 randomly selected students who did not participate in the workshop • Analysis included documenting words and phrases identified as jargon used throughout the informed consent portion of the encounter, the number of times they were used and whether they were promptly explained • For both the control and experimental groups, an average % explained jargon of total used jargon was calculated by dividing the number of times jargon was explained by the number of times jargon was used by each individual. A p-value was calculated to determine significance. Methods

• Students who participated in the workshop used words or phrases identified as medical jargon during delivery of the informed consent an average of 3.5 times, compared with 4 times for students who did not participate. • Workshop participants explained the jargon they used 72% of the time, compared with only 56% of the time for students who did not participate (p=0.0447) • While participation in the workshop did not meaningfully decrease the amount of jargon used, it did significantly increase the likelihood that the jargon used would be explained to the patient. • These results show that practicing communication and receiving immediate feedback from instructors and peers is effective in helping medical students communicate more clearly with patients when delivering an informed consent. • The integration of instruction on use of lay language and explanation of medical jargon into medical education could benefit physicians and patients alike. • Clear understanding empowers patients to make informed decisions about their health, improving their engagement in the healthcare process. • Future research in this area should expand instruction beyond the delivery of informed consent to the entire patient encounter, with a continued focus on helping students develop the skills needed for effective communication. References 1.Billings-Gagliardi, S., Mazor, K. M., & Belanger, M. (2001). Explanations of basic medical information by students: what lay people find effective. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges , 76 (10 Suppl), S39 – S41. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200110001-00014 2.Bittner, A., Bittner, J., Jonietz, A., Dybowski, C., & Harendza, S. (2016). Translating medical documents improves students' communication skills in simulated physician-patient encounters. BMC medical education , 16 , 72. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0594-4 3.Bourquin, C., Stiefel, F., Mast, M. S., Bonvin, R., & Berney, A. (2015). Well, you have hepatic metastases: Use of technical language by medical students in simulated patient interviews. Patient education and counseling , 98 (3), 323 – 330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2014.11.017 4.LeBlanc, T. W., Hesson, A., Williams, A., Feudtner, C., Holmes-Rovner, M., Williamson, L. D., & Ubel, P. A. (2014). Patient understanding of medical jargon: a survey study of U.S. medical students. Patient education and counseling , 95 (2), 238 – 242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2014.01.014 Conclusions

Figure 1 . Word map of dense medical lexicon used by the participants. A total of 29 unique words and phrases identified as medical jargon were used by the students in both groups combined

Table 1. Average number of times jargon was used by the Student Doctor during the informed consent process

Table 2. Average percentage of jargon used that was explained to the patient (p=0.0447)

2025 Research Recognition Day

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