By Roger Dobson Abergavenny

GPs need to watch their language when they are diagnosing what's wrong with a patient. Although health professionals are being encouraged to use lay language to improve communication in consultations, patients may actually prefer medical terminology, a new study says.

Patients see a medical label such as gastroenteritis as an assurance that their problem has been taken more seriously, while the equivalent lay label, stomach upset, is seen as implying that patients can take care of themselves, says the study (Family Practice 2003;20:248-53)

In the research the authors carried out a questionnaire survey among 900 consecutive patients attending nine general practices across England. A total of 740 questionnaires were completed, and each patient rated a series of statements involving either a lay or a medical term.

The research, by a team from the Department of General Practice at Guy's, King's College, and St Thomas's Hospitals Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, examined patients' views on the impact of lay and medical terminology of diagnoses for stomach and throat problems. The authors say that the sample of patients is likely to be similar to that of most UK general practices.

Patients associated the medical terms with a sense of professionalism and saw them as giving the doctor a clearer role in the consultation. In contrast they saw the lay labels as more blaming of the patient.

"Patients rated the medical label (gastroenteritis/tonsillitis) as indicating that the problem had been taken more seriously, that the patient would be allowed time off work, that the problem had a definite cause, that the patient would feel more confident in the doctor [and] be more satisfied with their visit to the doctor," says the report.

"In contrast, the use of a lay label (stomach upset/sore throat) was seen to imply that the patient could take care of themselves, that the problem would not last very long, and that it had been brought on by the patient."