Unfortunately, 80% is not good enough for our purposes at my company. In fact, we spend a lot of time trying to communicate with the other 20 percent, who, I'm willing to bet, account for a large portion of Medicaid costs due to urgent and nonurgent ER visits and so forth. Our mission is improving health and health care for EVERYONE. We have to use graphics and language creatively and sometimes in nonstandard ways in order to do that effectively.

I, for one, appreciate the free flow of thought on this listserve. It often leads to issues and solutions that I might not have thought of on my own. But of course, I'm not as expert as some of you.

Janet Sorensen
Technical and Educational Writer
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care 

-----Original Message-----
From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Seubert, Douglas
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:34 AM
To: alex.friesen at sickkids.ca; healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 2024] Re: Wednesday Question: Writing howwetalk:better or w

Thank you, Alex, for bringing this full circle. I think we got way off track talking about texting. The original discussion was sparked by the use of he or she or he/she or s/he, and one way to get around that is to stick the plural "their" with a singular subject, as in "Everyone should ask their doctor three questions at every visit." Some say it's OK to suspend basic rules of grammar, as long as the message stays the same and is understood by the reader. Some disagree, myself included, and believe that written materials can and should be both simple AND grammatically correct.

Standard English, plain language, and universal design --- if we stick to these guidelines we can produce written materials that can be used with and understood by 80% of patients. If you have a library of such materials (whether you write them yourself, purchase them, or find copyright free information on reputable Web sites) you can always tweak them to meet needs of particular patients of groups. 


Doug Seubert
Quality Improvement & Care Management
Family Health Center/Community Heath Access

Marshfield Clinic
1000 N Oak Avenue
Marshfield, WI 54449
www.marshfieldclinic.org/quality

(715) 387-5096 (1-800-782-8581 ext. 75096) seubert.douglas at marshfieldclinic.org


------Original Message------
From:	"alex.friesen at sickkids.ca" <alex.friesen at sickkids.ca>
Date:	Wed May 21, 2008 -- 10:17:39 AM
To:	healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject:	[HealthLiteracy 2020] Re: Wednesday Question: Writing how wetalk:	better or wors


Jan makes a good point about how text-message-aholics use butchered English and it works well for them.  And there are other examples of groups using non-standard forms of the language (e.g. AAVE, a.k.a. Black English and Ebonics).

I would love to be able to tailor every health-related message to each of these various groups of people (or, ideally, to individuals), but that's a tad unrealistic, so I think what we should try to find is some form of the language that exists in the middle ground: a form that the greatest number of people can understand.  And that form already exists; it's Standard English.  (For now we'll ignore national differences in forms such as Standard Canadian English or Standard Australian English.)

The thing is, people who use non-standard language forms have no trouble comprehending the standard for the simple reason that it's all over mainstream media.  Newscasts in particular pretty much always stick close to the standard, and almost everybody hears them on a daily basis.  The point is, if our goal is to reach the widest possible audience with one piece of writing, I can think of no more appropriate form of the language than the standard form, presented in a (semi) casual tone.

     ...Alex...




                                                                           
             "Jan Potter"                                                  
             <jpotter at gha.org>                                             
             Sent by:                                                   To 
             healthliteracy-bo         "The Health and Literacy Discussion 
             unces at nifl.gov            List" <healthliteracy at nifl.gov>     
                                                                        cc 
                                                                           
             2008-05-19 12:29                                      Subject 
                                       [HealthLiteracy 2009] Re: Wednesday 
                                       Question: Writing how we talk:      
             Please respond to         better or worse?                    
              The Health and                                               
                 Literacy                                                  
              Discussion List                                              
             <healthliteracy at n                                             
                 ifl.gov>                                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           




I believe in using correct grammar and syntax - in fact, I am obnoxiously passionate about it.  I teach in what is basically an engineering school and I am generally appalled by my students' writing.  However, I think that we need to consider the fact that the world is moving away from what we think of as a written form of communication.  These kids can send a text message in the time it takes me to figure out how to turn on my cell phone or PDA.  I can despise the idea that we are losing "our" method of effective communication, but I am wondering if perhaps we are missing the point.

They communicate and they do it on their terms.  I can force them to my terms, but exactly what is the point?  If we are trying to communicate, don't we want to do it on THEIR terms?  I am not so sure that there is a right or a wrong way here.  We need to be more concerned - particularly in a health setting - about whether they hear us and understand.  Text messaging English makes me crazy but they love it and it allows them to communicate rapidly and fairly clearly.  Good grammar and perfect syntax allows 2 very educated people to converse (and pat themselves on the back about how smart they are).

Too often we lose the meaning for the structure.

Jan Potter, MSTC
Communications Specialist
Partnership for Health and Accountability
770-249-4549
www.gha.org/pha
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