The understanding of medical information by a patient does not solely depend on their level of education. It relies on how this information is formulated, structured, and conveyed. A notice written in technical language, a diagnosis announced too quickly, a prescription without visual explanation: each link in the communication chain can jeopardize adherence to treatment.
Health literacy: the invisible foundation of the caregiver-patient relationship
Health literacy refers to a person’s ability to obtain, understand, and use information related to their health to make appropriate decisions. This concept goes beyond simple reading: it includes understanding numbers (dosage, risk rates), interpreting an anatomical diagram, and the ability to formulate relevant questions during a consultation.
A significant portion of the adult population has limited health literacy. These patients are not necessarily poorly educated. Stress, fatigue, language barriers, or the complexity of medical vocabulary can reduce understanding, even among those who are usually comfortable with written information.
Healthcare professionals who identify this parameter in advance spontaneously adjust their communication. Those who ignore it produce technically correct information, but functionally useless for the patient receiving it. The work on patient information comprehension on Pharmactuelle details this link between message formulation and actual reception by the recipient.
Decision aids and visual supports: what recent data shows
A Cochrane update published in 2024, covering 209 randomized trials and over 107,000 participants, confirms that decision aids (structured brochures, interactive web tools, explanatory videos) measurably improve patient knowledge, their understanding of treatment-related risks, and the likelihood that they will make choices aligned with their own values.
This result also applies to patients with limited health literacy. Decision aids do not replace consultations, but they provide a framework that the patient can consult at their own pace, reread, or share with a loved one.
Written reformulation sometimes surpasses oral communication
A systematic review published in 2026 on pharmacy interventions shows a counterintuitive point: for patients with limited literacy, medication labels rewritten in plain language and visual dosing schedules significantly improve treatment understanding compared to oral communication alone. The effect on adherence and clinical outcomes remains less clear, but immediate understanding consistently improves.
This means that a pharmacist or doctor who hands over a reformulated document with pictograms for taking (morning, noon, evening) produces a measurable effect, whereas a quick verbal explanation is likely to be forgotten as soon as the patient leaves the office.
Simplified language in health: clarifications on what this concretely implies
Simplifying does not mean impoverishing. Simplified language in health involves replacing technical terms with understandable equivalents, shortening sentences, and structuring information in order of priority for the patient. Here are the criteria that distinguish a well-reformulated medical document:
- Each sentence contains a single idea. Multiple subordinate clauses are removed or split into distinct sentences.
- Medical terms are followed by an explanation in parentheses upon their first appearance, then used alone thereafter.
- The most urgent information for the patient (when to take the medication, what effects to monitor, when to call the doctor) appears first, not at the end of the notice.
- A visual support (dosage chart, body diagram, timing pictogram) accompanies the written text.
Reformulation requires specific writing work. Rewriting a medication notice in patient language takes more time than drafting the technical version because every jargon shortcut must be unpacked without losing accuracy.
Communication skills of caregivers: a structured learning process, not a natural talent
Effective communication with patients is not a personal disposition. It is taught, practiced, and measured. Training programs for medical students now include modules on delivering bad news, reformulation, and checking understanding (the “teach-back” technique, where the patient restates what they have understood).
The quality of clinical communication relies on a few identifiable skills:
- Asking open-ended questions rather than closed ones to allow the patient to express their real concerns.
- Checking understanding without infantilizing, by asking the patient to summarize what they retain.
- Adapting the pace, vocabulary, and support (oral, written, visual) to the profile of the present patient, not to a theoretical patient.
Active listening remains underutilized in consultations. A survey conducted among physicians in the Sermo network indicates that less than half of the practitioners surveyed systematically practice active listening and encourage open-ended questions.
The role of the pharmacist in the understanding chain
The pharmacist acts as the last link, at the moment when the patient leaves the healthcare system with a prescription. It is often the last opportunity to ensure they understand their treatment. Interventions in the pharmacy (oral reformulation, providing a dosing schedule, reporting interactions) constitute a safety net that a medical consultation alone does not guarantee.
The understanding of patient information depends less on the quantity of information transmitted than on its format and sequencing. A short, visually structured document, provided at the right time and accompanied by an oral check produces better results than a long explanation unsupported by written material. The format matters as much as the content, and reformulation in plain language remains the most accessible lever for any healthcare professional.