Here are ways healthcare professionals can make it easier for older patients to read, understand, and follow medical instructions. The difference between what health professionals give people to read and what people are comfortably able to read contributes to a major health risk. Learn how you can take action now to start simplifying the written word and help safeguard your patients. If these assumptions are wrong, a person's health can be seriously jeopardized. This column includes tips about how to talk with people who come from cultures other than your own.
Few forms are as important to a patient and family as an advance directive.
Yet advance directives are often filled with complex and confusing language that makes them hard to understand. This column includes ways health professionals can help patients and families learn more about advance directives. But only if it's understandable. This column includes eight tips to improve the readability of the medical forms you use everyday. These article looks at two successful hospital-based approaches, including one developed by Helen Osborne.