Delivery of information

The Oxford/AstraZeneca covid 19 vaccine is regrettably enshrouded in medical mystery. Besides the usual purveyors of dark tales against immunizations, the world is treated to a trinity of denial, blame and withdrawal of mixed messages from the company. This is in response to the incidence of rare blood clots after administration of this Covid jab. The European Medical Agency and the Food and Drug Administration as well as the World Health Organization all seem to be reading different paragraphs of the same script. This has served to negate the gains made in enhancing the uptake of Covid-19 vaccines.

The lack of succinct communication has left doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers with scanty information as they try to encourage the general public to get vaccinated. This is as stony as it is sullen.  Lack of adequate communication about the risk of rare blood clots in young people as a side effect of the vaccine casts a shadow on the credibility of information, we as healthcare workers furnish the public with.

This is not the first time the medical community is embroiled in a maze of endless sentences without subject or object. The same has been seen with our most gifted medical specialists and consultants who do not know how to translate their complex medical jargon into plain language that  lay people can understand. This has led to the ongoing challenges of non-compliance to medical therapy. It has been compounded by the freely available alternative therapies most of which are harmful to the liver and kidneys.

 As a formidable company in healthcare, AstraZeneca must learn the art of subtle communication. This involves honesty and transparency as far as rare blood clots go. Understandably, the rate of the cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) in Europe after the Covid jab is low. However, it should be highlighted that most of Europe’s population is aged.  This is true for the United Kingdom as well. Senior citizens outnumber youngsters. Africa on the other hand, where United Kingdom has been generous enough to send batches of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, has a largely young populace. Kenya in particular has been touted to be only 19 in age. CVST as a potential side effect of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is said to affect the young as opposed to the elderly. This has been a source of indescribable anxiety.

CVST refers to a situation where a blood clot occurs in areas where the veins of the brain converge. These are what we call sinuses. The problem with these is that the clot prevents glucose and oxygen supply to the area of brain distal to the clot. This will in turn cause the brain part affected to not work as expected. It can therefore manifest as severe headache, fainting or losing control of a part of body as is seen in stroke.

If CVST is indeed common in young people, does one’s ethnicity have anything to do with the risk of CVST? These are some of the questions that researchers within this reputable institution need to answer in a simple language. . If the information they have is not adequate,  it is not cowardice to admit that investigations are in top gear.

Veracity is as important in marketing as are optics. It is vital to let healthcare workers know more about CVST and whether to beware or be confident about it. Engage a team of medical personnel who are great at communication. Let them say what you mean. This reverberates with the soul of your audience.

Medical miscommunication is not a specialty of Big Pharma alone. It bedevils the entire medical community. We tend to speak in circles. Never breaking things down enough for our audience to comprehend. This has led to widespread noncompliance to medical care and emergence of questionable alternative therapies. Perhaps time is ripe for medical interpreters. Professionals that take complex medical  jargon and say it in simple English. Sometimes listening to healthcare workers can be as traumatizing as listening to lawyers argue your case using clauses and articles. This is essentially why this blog was started. To demystify medical language. To rip apart down the curtain between medical language and patient consumption. To absorb the shock that comes with most of the diagnoses and synthesize it into little bits easily consumed by the public.

One may argue that the truth remains as such whether we deliver it passionately or flatly. What I have learnt in my nursing practice is that the truth does not have to be impersonal. That you can deliver bad news say of a debilitating illness without sounding like a monotonous page straight out of  a heavyweight medical book.

 Empathy is a language that a hurting soul identifies with. It is time that empathy is taught and demonstrated once again in medical classes and transmitted all the way to renowned pharmaceutical companies.

Effective medical communication is how we will prevent and manage lifestyle diseases. It is how we fight transmissible diseases and ultimately, win the fight against the unforgiving  Covid-19 pandemic.