Stream: social
Topic: What's the conversational term for "demographics"?
Dave deBronkart (Aug 10 2020 at 19:57):
Without getting HL7-nerdy, is there a generic term the general public understands as meaning "Name, address, DOB etc", vs "my medical data"?
(Why I'm asking: @Virginia Lorenzi and @Debi Willis and I are on the weekly call about defining an implementation guide of the Patient Corrections workflow. This question came up in passing, because we want all this to be as clear and "accessible" as possible to ordinary citizens.)
Jose Costa Teixeira (Aug 10 2020 at 20:00):
you mean patient demographics?
Dave deBronkart (Aug 10 2020 at 20:12):
I assume that's what it's call in HL7 and/or FHIR, but we're thinking ahead to patient-facing apps/tools, and wondering what would be clear for people to read in this situation:
- What kind of change are you requesting?
- Correction to medical record
- Change to personal information (address, insurance, phone, etc)
Is there anything more concise than that?
I hear that "personal information" is called "demographics" in FHIR-speak, but that's not ordinary-person language.
Jose Costa Teixeira (Aug 10 2020 at 20:40):
I thought demographics was more common. Personal information seems common.
Then again, my English vocabulary is nerd English.. I leave it to the natives.
David Pyke (Aug 10 2020 at 20:57):
Personal information is fine. Demographics is the correct term, but not something people outside will know.
Grahame Grieve (Aug 10 2020 at 20:58):
It's called Demographics across the board in information handling situations (not just health)
Jens Villadsen (Aug 10 2020 at 20:58):
demographics for sure
Rik Smithies (Aug 10 2020 at 20:59):
in my experience no one says demographics outside of IT, or news/research about populations etc, and that is a different sense "the demographics of cinema goers has changed since the 70s".
Jens Villadsen (Aug 10 2020 at 21:01):
statisticians do - but then again ... they are not real humans :rolling_on_the_floor_laughing:
Rik Smithies (Aug 10 2020 at 21:10):
only 1 in 3 of them are
Richard Townley-O'Neill (Aug 11 2020 at 04:49):
I agree that "demographic information" is the best nerdy term, "personal information" with the examples is less intimidating.
Dave deBronkart (Aug 11 2020 at 20:13):
Rik Smithies said:
in my experience no one says demographics outside of IT, or news/research about populations etc, and that is a different sense "the demographics of cinema goers has changed since the 70s".
Thank you for putting your finger on what I was trying to identify! Yes - in ordinary conversations I've heard, people talk about a TV show or a politician "not attracting the right demo[graphic]". They're talking about things like age, income, education, location ... all of it is the organization's perspective, not the consumer/citizen/patient's.
So, at least right now, I'm thinking "personal information" is more like what I have in mind. Of course this isn't normative - I'm just proactively working to introduce the ordinary person's POV into these conversations.
Dave deBronkart (Aug 11 2020 at 20:20):
As a sidebar grouse about this general subject, I'll never forget in 2002 when I was permanently annoyed by the desk staff at my new PCP's office. I imagine they were efficient, but oy what dorks. They couldn't even have a friendly voicemail announcement: "To leave, a non ... eMERgent ... message, press 1 ..." I never succeeded in convincing them that ordinary people don't know what "emergent" means in this context, and they were annoyed at me for not seeing things their way. (Really.)
So I left them, and got connected with this guy named @Danny Sands, who I later learned had co-authored the first JAMIA paper on how to do doctor-patient email, just 4 years earlier. And 5 years after that, the connection helped save my life, because he was modern in other ways too, including connecting me with an expert e-patient community.
Dave deBronkart (Aug 11 2020 at 20:23):
btw, for exactly the same reason, I object to calling insurers "payers." They are ONLY that in the perspective of the payee (e.g. the hospital). To patients, they are too often the party who says "No, we're NOT paying for that," violating the implicit agreement we expect when we BOUGHT their line of crap.
The above obviously doesn't apply to anyone with good ethics and transparent policies. Still, the class should not be called payers. Not from the patient POV ... and the patient is the party for whom the whole stinkin industry exists.
John Moehrke (Aug 12 2020 at 12:46):
"Contact Information"
Jens Villadsen (Aug 12 2020 at 17:03):
I dont find that maritalstatus is part of my "contact information" - unless im about to do shady business
Jens Villadsen (Aug 12 2020 at 17:08):
Neither do i find my phone number as "personal information"
David Pyke (Aug 12 2020 at 19:14):
It's "personal" meaning is "related to you"
Gino Canessa (Aug 12 2020 at 19:18):
Can always fall back to "About You" or "General Information" :info:
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
