5 Ways To De-Jargonize Medical Writing

I think we can all agree that the success or failure of a medical writer rests on their ability to ensure clarity and accessibility in their work. Jargon is the enemy of our cause. In this short article, I outline my 5 secrets to jargon-busting your work. Oh, and by the way, sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia is just brain freeze…

1 - Does my nephew get this?

If you do nothing else, do this. Imagine the scenario, you have a 16-year-old nephew. He has just finished his education and is considered to have a “standard ability” in English and Maths. They are easily able to take in knowledge but have no experience in health or medicine.

Other sources of advice may ask you to think about whether he could understand the words you have used in your writing. However, I’m not sure this is enough. I suggest the test, “Does my nephew get this?”. This is the difference between being able to read what you have written, and actually digesting the content. My nephew should be able to tell me about what he just read and respond to simple questions.

For example:

“The efficacy of the drug may be altered by specific enzyme-inducing compounds.”

Chances are, my nephew is familiar with words such as “efficacy” and “enzyme”. However, if I asked, “So what does the person taking this drug need to be aware of?” I’m not confident that I would get the answer I am looking for.

Reworking this example, we can instead write:

“The ability of the medicine to work properly can be affected by certain foods or other medications that change how the body handles it. These are called “enzyme-inducing compounds”, an example of which would be grapefruit juice.”

This statement is a clear and concise breakdown of the original jargon-filled sentence. A variety of methods are used to improve accessibility to non-medical audiences, such as:

• Changing words that may be misunderstood by the reader. From “drug” to “medicine”, “efficacy” to “work properly”, we are removing any ambiguity.

• Removing a technical term (“enzyme-inducing compounds”) and replacing it with an explanation of what the term means.

• Using quotations to highlight a technical term reassures the reader that this is not knowledge they are expected to have.

• Using an example to provide clarity, as well as emphasize exactly how this information relates to them.

If I now ask my nephew, “So what does the person taking this drug need to be aware of?” I would be much more likely to get an answer demonstrating understanding, not just word comprehension. This is what I want from my target audience, for them to know not regurgitate.

2 - The speed read test

The concept of the speed read test is simple. Force yourself to read what you have written out loud as fast as you can. If you get tongue-tied, it can likely be simplified. When readers stumble over your words, they may experience a knock in confidence that, at worst, can lead them to stop reading altogether.

Try the speed read test on this statement:

“Understandably, the HCPs on HASU will need to triage your clinical condition comprehensively before judgment regarding your continual care plan and further treatment escalation can be made, and as such you may see other patients presenting in a more critical state getting prioritized for treatment first.”

Wow. Aside from being the run-on sentence to end all run-on sentences, I certainly can’t read this without stumbling. This statement fails the speed read test.

Instead, I would suggest the following:

“The doctors and nurses on the stroke unit will need to fully assess how unwell you are on arrival. With this information, they can plan what treatment you may need. You may see other patients being treated ahead of you. This is because they may be more unwell on assessment and need treatment from the team straight away.”

Structuring the phrase in this way has several benefits:

• No long run-on sentence. Instead, the statement is broken down into simple chunks, giving the reader a more logical grammatical structure to follow.

• Longer, unnecessary, descriptions are removed. Some details in the original text don’t contribute to the message and just create more stumbling blocks.

• Specialist terminology (“HCP” and “HASU”) is simply not needed by the target audience.

• As with the previous example, technical terms are replaced by explanations.

3 - Structure and boxes

I particularly love this trick. Words aren’t the only tool medical writers have at their disposal. Being able to properly structure and display your writing on the page can be the difference between your audience picking up your work or not. I find this rule to be particularly helpful when writing content to be consumed by experts and non-experts alike.

Promoting logical flow in your text improves the readability of your material. If your audience is guided through your message, they are far less likely to get lost and wander off the page.

I tend to use boxes in 2 ways:

• To highlight the key messages. This can include summary bullet points, selling points, slogans or key safety messages. The box should be bright, inviting and take pride of place. If there is one thing you want your audience to take away from your material, put it in a box!

• To cage away the jargon. Sometimes boxes can be used for the opposite purpose. When projects call for technical information to be available to healthcare professionals alongside content for the layperson, locking this up in a “professionals section” can be of huge benefit. You are signposting this content as not needed for the average consumer and are less likely to deter them from reading.

4 - Multimedia

This section requires very little explanation and I only include it here as a reminder. We all know that images, sounds, diagrams, and videos get clicks. Even in more formal publications, multimedia can do wonders for your article.

Imagine trying to describe the proper use of an inhaler. I’m sure we could have a reasonable go at just using text for this task. However, it requires us to identify every assumption we make about the process. Does the audience have the same understanding of the names we use for various inhaler and spacer parts? Do they interpret steady, deep inhalation in the same way we do?

Adding a labelled diagram or video demonstration can help to address these issues. Even if you fail to recognize the assumptions that you are making, multimedia content can often safety net your work from misunderstanding. I particularly like using images and diagrams to support text that includes terminology or jargon that I’m unable to get away from using.

This is not an addition to good medical writing, it is a part of it.

5 - Test it out

My final tip is another simple one. When we spend all day writing about our specialist subject, it’s all too easy to trick ourselves into believing some jargon is more commonplace than it is. The more skilled we become, the bigger this minefield gets.

Non-medical colleagues, friends, family or anyone who will give you their time are invaluable in combating jargon blindness.

Alternatively, Reddit communities and writers' forums are brilliant places to crowdsource support and advice.

So that’s 5 secrets to de-jargonizing your medical writing. Let me know if you have found any of these strategies particularly helpful, and feel free to share your own.