In rural healthcare language is often considered primary gatekeeper to quality healthcare.Most people are comfortable communicating in their native language. Many of us must have faced this.
Often doctors also find it difficult to communicate in local dialect during rural health camps.
This gap can lead to miscommunication, reduced trust among patients, and many patients find it difficult to follow medical advice.
Key challanges that doctor encounter while communicating.
•Doctors trained in urban centers may not be fluent with rural dialect.
•It becomes complex while explaining conditions like Diabetes, Hypertension or some other rare conditions that mostly patients are not aware of.
•Trust building -Speaking in the patient’s language builds trust between healthcare providers and communities.
Strategy to overcome this barrier
• Try explaining in simple language.
• Take time listening to patients carefully, this will help build patients trust.
• Using visual aids like picture, charts , diagram help in better explaining of condition.
Let me share one of my experience
During internship we were posted in rural health camp. We spoke standard Gujarati, but the villagers used a different type of Gujarati—a rural dialect mixed with tribal words that we found hard to understand. For this we listened to them with patience and tried to understand them by repeating their words to avoid any error in diagnosis. Even local people there helped us translate certain words that was much helpful. This helped us build trust among them. It was a quiet meaningful experience for me. It helped me acknowledge that their dialect held keys to their health.
This helped us build community rapport and improved patients adherence to treatment plans.
The shift from standard textbook language to the lived reality of a rural dialect is often where the real art of medicine begins.
What are your thoughts on this, as to how much does a shared language impact a patient’s willingness to follow medical advice??
MBH/PS
. As a health care provider 
, it’s crucial that we can communicate in a way that the patient can easily decipher. This allows the patient to open up and trust us with their treatment that is going to make a huge impact on their quality of life.
, patients would communicate in Hindi mixed with their local dialect. I would either request my fellow post graduates or the patient’s relative to translate. This really helped me gain patient’s trust and build a nice rapport.