placing ourselves in our patients' world

I have had a number of colleagues again ask "why do I need to know humanities? i am a nurse?
My response continues to be "we need to communicate with patients and families. Often they do not know medical jargon or they do not know how to fit medical information in their lives. Having knowledge of the humanities through art, history, sociology, history, psychology gives nurses, patients, and families points of reference for clear language they may (and I want to make sure we understand the concept "may")stress the importance of applying medical information to living lives.
We all need to understand the place we all find ourselves in the world of health care literacy.

Dean Schillinger, MD (of the teach back method) in his commisioned paper "Improving Chronic disease Care for Populations with Limited Health Literacy" in the Institute of the National Academis' paper A Prescription to End Confusion- prologues his wor with a quote from George Bernard Shaw "the problem with communication is the assumption that it has occurred".Within the same work Barry D. Weiss, MD's paper (also commissioned) "Outside the Clinician-Patient Relationship-A Call to Action for Healthe Literacy" addresses the interconnection in all aspects of a patient's life that are impacted by health care information. Health does nnot exist in isolation it exists in living.

Ultimately the choice is the patient's-everyone else can only provide reliable information and realistic expectations.

I am astonished that with the money spent on "clear language" much of the drug information is complicated and in very small print. It appears that we have much work to still do on how the text is presented and what the text presents at first glance. What the patient sees, remembers, and uses to facilitate THEIR healthcare remains the ultimate test of information medical personel share and explain.