Effects of Ambiguity in the Right to Information - one of the Patient Rights - and the Assessment of these Ambiguities with the Analysis of Colloquial Language

Mr. Ersin Oguz* Mrs. Nesrin Oguz**

*Obstetrician and gynecologist,  Police Radio, Turkey, Producer of Radio Programme called “Saglikli Soylesiler (Healthy Conversations) ”

**Philologist, Turkish Language and Literature Teacher

Abstract

Introduction;       Ambiguity during the talks is one of the reasons that result in misunderstanding in the relations between the patient and the physician. Ambiguities affect the right to information which is one of the patient rights in a negative way.  Patient talks in a programme about women health - that is lively broadcasted on a national radio channel per week – have been evaluated and as the reason of misunderstanding in this matter, ambiguities associated with linguistics have been retrospectively analyzed. In this analysis, the purpose is to reveal how the ambiguities - in the talks of the patients who have participated the a/m radio programme for their medical questions- affects the right to information.

Material and Method 145 live broadcast records dated between 2.2.2005 and 4.6.2009 in Turkish Police Radio, a national radio channel, in a programme called “Healthy Conversations – Healthy Woman” that is lively broadcasted per week have been focused. The records belonging to 620 participants have been collectively assessed by the physician and philologist, and also ambiguity data during question and answer part have been compiled. Parameters, such as voice and harmony, and meaning defects associated with the colloquial language, which may lead to problems in the information exchange between the patient and the physician have been assessed in terms of linguistics.

Findings 620 participant listeners who have at least made 3 minutes net talking in total in 145 programmes have been assessed. 337 persons (54%) have been presented with voice and harmony defect, 215 persons (34%) have been presented with ambiguity. 157 persons (25%) have also been presented with both kinds of ambiguity simultaneously. Excitement occurring during the time of live broadcast has been considered as equivalent to the excitement during the time of visiting the doctor, thereby all kinds of error possibilities have been taken into consideration.

Conclusion            The origin of information problems of the patients does not only arise from medical personnel. The ambiguities in the colloquial language affect the comprehensibleness and also cause problems related to being acquainted and being informed. It has been concluded that the patients who are expressing themselves in a good way, and who are also speaking in a grammatical way have been informed by the medical personnel in an easy way. It should not be forgotten that the patients who present with the problem of expressing themselves related to colloquial language during the time of health service   are not able to use of the right to information in adequate way. All kinds of activities particularly training for adopting a better colloquial language will be on the service for the right to information of the patients.

Keywords: Patient rights, ambiguities, informing