COMMUNICATION GAP

Look how long it took health officials to find a man with infectious extreme drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) after “talking” with him about his condition. Did they tell him that he was and that he could not travel? In the taped (taped by his father) conversation with the doctor, the doctor said, “There is no reason for you to be sequestered”. The letter telling him he was infectious and not to travel arrived after he left the country. Did anyone try to call him, email him, text him or his immediate family?

Communication and comprehension are not the only issues here. Look how long it took to get to this point. The gentleman was alerted that he may have a severe form of TB back in April. It is now June. There is some hesitancy here. He was initially diagnosed, according to his TV interview with “The King”, Larry King, that he was diagnosed with TB over a year ago. Treatment until May had been stable, uneventful. Now he faces long term treatment, and possibly part of his lung may have to be removed.

Communication is the number one item that patients say hinder their health care. They rarely get to tell their whole story before the doctor interrupts. It gets to a point where you don’t understand what your health providers are saying, and you just do what you think they told you. Or do you?

If the “big dogs” like the CDC and health departments have problems in talking to patients so that they understand, where does that leave the rest of us?

Communication is the fifth vital sign (the others are blood pressure, temperature, pulse rate, respirations). Understanding what is said is part of this. Talk much. Listen more. Ask to repeat. Ask questions. Write it down. Or tape it.