Question

Examine the BEFORE and AFTER graphic below. What plain language principles do you see in the “AFTER” example that were not used in the “BEFORE” example? What additional improvements would you suggest to improve patient understanding?

BEFORE

Medicaid: Apply if you are aged (65 years old or older), blind, or disabled and have low income and few resources. Apply if you are terminally ill and want to receive hospice services. Apply if you are aged, blind, or disabled; live in a nursing home; and have low income and limited resources. Apply if you are aged, blind, or disabled and need nursing home care, but can stay at home with special community care services. Apply if you are eligible for Medicare and have low income and limited resources.

AFTER

You may apply for Medicaid if you are:

Terminally ill and want hospice services

Eligible for Medicare and have low income and limited resources

65 years old or older, blind, or disabled and have low income and few resources and:

Live in a nursing home

Need a nursing home care but can stay at home with special community care services

Answer 1

When the physician is writing or documenting the information regarding the patient it should be in a complex format with complex medical terms and thus results in difficulty to understand or giving without much opportunity to understand a large amount of complex information within a short time. Thus the need of Plain language is critically important in the health care field.

Thus the application of technical writing can be found in every field including the medical field. Technical writing can be clear, concise and informative. Technical writing should make the information easy to understand. The technical writers focus on the audience understanding. The technical writers give importance and think about what their readers may or may not know.

*Helps people to understand the information more rapidly

*Makes it easier for the person giving the information

Thus we can say that the technical writer is a mediator or information communicator through any medium best facilitates the transfer and comprehension of the information.

The main task is simplifying the complex thus facilitates the better understanding:

#Plain language principles in the After example :

*Concise and Focus only on what patient needs to know and avoided long sentences (average of 15 words long in a sentence)

*Patient friendly word list was used

*Written in a conversational style and use active voice and address the reader directly by using pronouns (eg: if you are)

*It should be clear about what the patient needs to do

*Information is organized and put the most important information first

*Avoided the acronyms and abbreviations

*Used positive statements

# Additional Improvements suggests are :

*Can use examples or examples for better understanding regarding the importance of Medicaid and its eligibility criteria

*Use ample white space or use bullets to break up each sentence

*Can use clear descriptive headings

*Can use good grammar

*Can use punctuation after each sentence