Health Care Insider: Helping Patients Better Communicate With Physicians For Successful Discharges

Summary: Doctors’ instructions can be hard to understand, especially when it’s time for discharge. Most major medical institutions write dismissal summaries at a 10-11th grade reading level. Dr. Martin Zielinski, associate professor of trauma surgery at the Mayo Clinic, says this is too high for most patients. A higher readability level in medical instructions at discharge can result in more callbacks, questions and patient re-admissions. Dr. Zielinski talks with <a href="http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddetail.php?physicianID=u0024131">Dr. Kyle Jones</a> about why medical instructions should be at a lower level and how to ensure better communication between patients and physicians.