I speak medical-ese. I forget how often I came about understanding the language of the medical community. I take it for granted that I know what the doctors are saying, or understand the words that are coming out of their mouth. In essence, I’ve learned that I speak medical-ese, and some of this has just come from working in the industry for over 15 years which includes my four years of doctoral pharmacy training, residency training, and years of clinical practice. And I take it for granted.
Sometimes I often have to step back and re-explain things to patients or re-phrase it with a different terminology so that it makes sense to them. I think that is one skill set where a pharmacist really can help a patient and their caregiver. Pharmacists can help translate what a patient is going through and what the doctors are saying to them. It’s not only about translating, it’s also about interpreting. I know how to look at a hemoglobin and know whether that’s good or bad or I’m able to look at a patient blood sugars and know whether that’s good or bad or exactly the days they’ve had good days and bad days with their blood sugar but for a patient those same test results may leave them feeling clueless or overwhelmed.

And let’s not forget the obvious one, drug names. I often tell patients I went to school for many years to learn how to pronounce these drug names (just kidding). But not only can I say them correctly I know what they’re doing to your body, how they’re interacting with your other medications, how they’re making you feel or how they’re helping and what’s the importance of them. I take that for granted.
Additionally, how often do you get instructions that say “Take as directed”? What does that mean? Take as directed. Without clear instruction how can a patient be successful managing their medications??

So, if you know of someone that needs help translating the medical jargon in their healthcare journey, consider reaching out to a pharmacist, they often know how to translate what the doctors mean and also interpret it to tell you how to use that information for your health.
And consider Calling the PharmD, we help speak translate medical-ese!