Communicating with care
A teaching toolkit for the Medical Humanities workshop. The same model can sound cold and clinical or clear and humane — the difference is how you ask.
“Explain this MRI report.”
A wall of jargon the patient can't follow.
“Explain this MRI report to a worried patient in plain, kind language.”
A clear, compassionate explanation they actually understand.
AI as a partner for humane clinical communication.
Every example here comes from real clinical moments: breaking difficult news, explaining an incidental finding, de-escalating a frustrated patient, speaking up respectfully. A small change in how you prompt turns a technically-correct answer into one a patient or colleague can actually understand and trust.
“Summarize this radiology report.”
Accurate, but full of jargon and easy to misread under stress.
“Explain it to the patient in plain language, with empathy and next steps.”
Clear, compassionate, and ready for a real conversation.
Learn by example, then practice live.
Two ways into the same skill — worked examples to study, and hands-on exercises you can run and have scored.
Bring clarity and compassion to every conversation.
Start with the worked examples, then bring the prompts into your own clinical communication.