It’s very easy for medical professionals to talk to patients using the same medical language they learnt at university and use with colleagues. To us it’s familiar. It requires no effort. It’s precise. We understand perfectly what we mean. But patients without our background… are they really following us knowledgably, or, just nodding politely and lost in a mire of gobbledygook?
Some patients or family might ask you, if they dare, “can you explain that to me in ‘plain English’ please?” But many won’t…
And it matters hugely of course. How can a patient feel involved in his/her care when they have little idea about what’s on offer? How can they weigh up and make informed decisions about one treatment over another when the conversation is too detailed or complicated… as if the very idea of the treatment isn’t worrying enough?
So, what is Plain English?
In Liverpool (UK) in the mid-70’s, there were an estimated 50,000 illiterate people in the English port city; education post-World War 2 was difficult and incomplete for many who had been forced to leave school early to earn a wage. Being unable to read or write carried shame that most did not admit to. In recognition of this, an adult literacy campaign was launched with the printing of an ‘accessible’ newspaper called The Liverpool News. Copies were left freely in public places so that anyone, regardless of their literacy could read about local events. The idea proved very popular, and by 1979, Chrissie Maher’s campaign had gone nationwide. Dressed as a gorilla in Parliament Square, she called for the eradication of bureaucratic gobbledygook and publicly shredded hundreds of official government forms. The Plain English Campaign was formally born. https://www.plainenglish.co.uk
But that was in 1979 you say… literacy has surely improved since then? The answer, sadly, is probably no.
The UK’s National Literacy Trust estimates that 18% of British adults aged between 16 and 65 (6.6-8.2 million people) have very poor or low functional literacy levels1. In the USA however, levels are much higher: the (US) National Literacy Institute estimates that 28% of adults struggle with the most basic reading tasks whilst a staggering 54% of the adult population have literacy levels akin to 6th graders (children aged 11-12). The associated losses to the US economy are thought to be in the order of 2.2 trillion dollars annually2… which of course makes the Plain English Campaign as pertinent today as it’s ever been.
So, what does this mean for you, the medical professional?
It’s not about conversing with our patients as if they’re all 6th graders of course but selecting rather an explanatory middle ground from which we can adapt up or down our language, adding diagrams if necessary to aid comprehension.
How can we gauge in advance how detailed to be in our explanation giving?
Even if the patient’s profession and educational background might offer us a clue, it’s probably best not to make assumptions because an estimated 59% of young UK patients3 and 89% of Americans will have consulted ‘Dr Google’ before seeing their doctors.4
So possible inroads might be:
- Have you done any reading/read anything about (condition) before seeing me?
- What do you know about / understand by (condition)?
- Are you somebody who likes to know things in detail? … or should I keep things more general/basic/simple?
‘Chunking’ the information and checking for comprehension is key:
- Are you following me so far? Or should I explain things differently?
- Does that make sense (so far)?
- How will you explain that to your husband/wife/family when you speak to them?
Plain = simple, without elaboration; to be literate // illiterate = to be able/unable to read or write; literacy // illiteracy = the ability/inability to read or write; gobbledygook / gobbledegook = incomprehensible or pompous language of specialists; campaign = an organised series of activities to achieve a specific goal
References
- Adult literacy and information about our books unlocked programme https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/ (Accessed: 24 October 2026)
- 49 Adult literacy statistics for 2026. https://www.nu.edu/blog/49-adult-literacy-statistics-and-facts/ (Accessed: 24 October 2026)
- Nearly half of UK young people buy meds after consulting ‘Dr Google” https://pharmaphorum.com/news/nearly-half-of-uk-young-people-buy-meds-after-consulting-dr-google (Accessed: 24 October 2026)
- Swift YS (2019) Do your patients consult Google before they consult you? An expert interview. https://www.empr.com/home/features/do-your-patients-consult-google-before-they-consult-you-an-expert-interview-with-james-a-elizy-md/ (Accessed: 24 October 2026)
