At its heart, plain language is clear communication. It helps everyone understand information, regardless of literacy level or expertise. And the more complex the subject, the more important this becomes.
Think about signing a legal contract or consent form without fully understanding what it means. When documents are easy to read and understand, they reduce the need for clarification, help us make informed decisions, and save everyone time. In many cases, clear communication also saves lives. Can you think of how?
One example is a prescription label. If a medication says, “Administer one capsule BID for management of hypertension,” will most people know what that means? Now compare it to: “Take 1 tablet in the morning and 1 tablet in the evening, with food, to help lower blood pressure.” This second version is clearer about when, how, and why to take the medication. This is plain language in action, and the impact is great.
Plain language doesn’t mean oversimplifying. It means making information easier to find, use, and understand so people can learn and make informed decisions. That’s especially important in healthcare, where the stakes are so high. And in today’s information (and misinformation) landscape, it’s more important than ever.
At BCB Learning, we’ve been thinking a lot about plain language in the context of health literacy. While plain language is part of everything we do, we often partner with clients to create e-learning courses on healthcare topics and prioritize plain language content as part of that work. We’ve also been taking courses and building our skills in this area because it’s a topic we care about deeply.
In this context, plain language means paying attention to how we talk to readers and organizing content in a way that makes information easy to find, use, and understand. We also write for our intended audience – such as people preparing for surgery or living with chronic pain – using words and concepts that are most familiar to them. That means avoiding abbreviations, symbols, jargon, and medical shorthand that only healthcare providers would understand. It also means choosing common words, like “give” instead of “administer”, and “shot” instead of “inoculation.”
Here are a few more examples of plain language strategies we use to support health literacy:
- Writing short sentences and using active voice
- Using “you” to speak directly to the reader
- Creating white space to reduce visual clutter
- Choosing a readable, accessible typeface and font
- Using meaningful visuals, not decorative, that reflect the diversity of our audience
- Chunking content so readers receive information in short, manageable parts
- Using short, descriptive headings to make information easy to find
- Testing our content by asking people from the intended audience: Does this make sense to you?
The cost of unclear health information is high. It creates barriers to care, deepens health inequities, and leaves people out of decisions that affect their wellbeing. And as facilitators and learning designers in this field, we play an important role.
Whether we’re designing a patient brochure, writing web content, or creating e-learning, using plain language helps ensure that people are more likely to have what they need to make informed choices. In other words, clear communication matters. It’s not just good writing. It can also be a step toward accessibility and equity.