{"id":93201,"date":"2025-05-20T15:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/?p=93201"},"modified":"2025-05-20T15:51:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:51:44","slug":"health-communication-lecturer-warns-when-it-comes-to-patient-dialogue-culture-is-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/news\/health-communication-lecturer-warns-when-it-comes-to-patient-dialogue-culture-is-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Communication Lecturer Warns: When It Comes to Patient Dialogue, Culture is Key"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health communication recently took the spotlight in a New York Times<\/em> article examining how healthcare professionals interact with older patients\u2014particularly the use of \u201celderspeak,\u201d a familiar affectation that is meant to endear healthcare workers to their patients, but can instead leave those receiving care feeling alienated.<\/p>\n

Felipe Agudelo Acevedo, a lecturer in BU MET\u2019s online MS in Health Communication<\/a> program, was featured in the Times<\/em> article, offering his perspective on the role cultural sensitivities can play in these patient-caregiver dynamics. Drawing from his own experience with his 80-year-old mother in Colombia, Dr. Acevedo noted that informal language may not have the same impact across cultures. Ultimately, he explained, effective communication requires treating these conversations as respectful negotiations between equals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe patient has the right to say, \u2018I don\u2019t like your talking to me that way,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c[The caregiver] should acknowledge that the recipient may not come from the same cultural background.\u201d From there, both parties can work toward a tone of dialogue that is mutually respectful and clearly understood.<\/p>\n

Health communication is a rapidly growing field that combines media, marketing, and public health to inform, engage, and empower diverse populations. Professionals in this space play a key role in improving outcomes and reshaping how healthcare is delivered. Visit the BU MET website to learn more about the online MS in Health Communication<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more in the New York Times<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the right way to speak with an older medical patient, and how can health communication help to do a better job at this sensitive form of dialogue? One BU MET lecturer lent the New York Times<\/em> his perspective. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21777,"featured_media":93214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,118,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21777"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93201"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93215,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93201\/revisions\/93215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}