Next generation of doctors learn how plain speaking can help patients thrive

Published on 4, April, 2025

Medical information is often complicated and hard to understand. To help with this, students at the University of Sunderland’s School of Medicine are receiving training on how to communicate simply. 

This training is given by the Health Literacy Team from South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, who are helping to train students as part of their work to promote good health literacy across the health and care system.

The World Health Organisation is clear that making health information easier to understand is good for people’s health. People living locally have some of the worst health outcomes in England and report that they find health information hard to understand. By making health information simpler doctors can be more effective at improving health outcomes.

Writing and speaking simply and clearly about health also means it is easier for people to take positive steps to improve their health. It can also make patients feel more involved in their care when things are more simply explained. 

Sunderland students in the first year of a medical degree are given an introduction to health literacy. It explains what health literacy is and shows students how changing the way we communicate can help patients stay healthy. 

Second-year students have a two-hour workshop on health literacy. They focus on how writing simply can make a difference to their patients. Students practice their skills in a project where they develop a patient leaflet.

While students in their third year attend a lecture by Consultant in Public Health Ryan Swiers, which looks at how their health literacy skills can make healthcare fairer, safer and more effective.

The team leads this work across the north-east and North Cumbria.

Ryan leads the programme and Health Literacy Trainers Tracey Garbarino and Leanne Kirkup have also led university sessions in Sunderland.

Ryan said: "All of this work is to help these students realise how the words they use matter.

"It will help them think about how health literacy can make a difference and the benefits it can have to a patient’s health.

"It is crucial people understand the information they get, so they can follow advice, ask questions and make choices about their care. 

"Our region faces some of the most serious health inequalities across the UK. This is one step we are taking to help tackle those inequalities.

"Our link with the University of Sunderland is very valuable. It helps those who will become doctors think about this from the very start of their careers.

"We’ve already had some positive feedback from the students.

"We’re grateful they are welcoming us in to help with this. In time, we would like to roll it out to other healthcare professions too."

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Dr Floor Christie-de Jong is the University's Associate Professor in Public Health for Medicine. She is also Associate Director for Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health.

She said: "We have developed a fantastic partnership with Ryan and his team.

"With their help, we have added health literacy to what we teach at our School of Medicine.

"This means our students will graduate to be health-literate doctors ready to communicate simply and clearly with their patients.

"This is an important part of our role as a socially responsible medical school."

Third-year student Lucas Robinson, from Backworth, North Tyneside, attended Ryan’s recent lecture.

The 21-year-old said: “There were some eye-opening statistics.

“How you talk to patients on the wards, for example, is part of our training. Sometimes, you can be using very complex medical terms.

“This makes you think about how you talk to them and to use less jargon.”

For more information on studying Medicine at the University of Sunderland, click here.