← All eight moments

Moment 4 of 8

Explaining in Plain English

You can hold the whole diagnosis in your head and still lose the explanation mark, because the patient left the room nodding politely and understanding nothing. The skill here is translation: plain words first, small chunks, honest checks that the message actually landed.

Pattern 01

Plain word first, medical name second

What many candidates say"You have atrial fibrillation — an arrhythmia with an irregular ventricular response."
becomes
What scores in the room"Your heart's beating in an irregular, uneven way. The medical name for it is atrial fibrillation, but in plain terms the top chambers aren't keeping a steady rhythm."

Leading with the plain explanation — and offering the medical name as a label, not the explanation — is what earns the mark. Jargon-first leaves the patient nodding without a clue what you've said.

Your turn

Explain "you've had a small heart attack" without the words "myocardial infarction" or "ischaemia."

"One of the blood vessels supplying your heart got blocked, and that starved a small part of the heart muscle of blood — that's what we call a heart attack."

Every word is one a non-medical person uses. The mechanism is there, the jargon isn't.

Pattern 02

Chunk it, and check between the chunks

What many candidates say(delivers one unbroken 60-second monologue)
becomes
What scores in the room"So that's what the condition is — does that make sense so far, before I move on to what we can do about it?"

Chunking the information and checking understanding between the chunks — not only at the end — is a named, marked behaviour. A wall of information the patient can't absorb scores nothing, however accurate it is.

Your turn

You've explained the diagnosis and you're about to explain the treatment. Insert the check.

"I've thrown quite a bit at you there — shall I pause for a second? Is there anything in what I've said so far you'd like me to go over again?"

You name the overload, then give them a genuine opening to ask. That's the check.

Pattern 03

Reach for an everyday picture

What many candidates say"The stent maintains luminal patency in the stenosed coronary artery."
becomes
What scores in the room"Picture the artery like a hose that's gone narrow — the stent is a tiny scaffold that holds it open so the blood can flow through properly again."

A simple, accurate analogy makes an abstract idea land and shows real communication skill. One caution worth saying out loud: the picture has to be accurate, not just neat — a memorable-but-wrong analogy does more harm than none.

Your turn

Explain what a "flare-up" of a long-term condition is, using an everyday image.

"Think of it like a fire that's usually kept low and under control — a flare-up is when something stokes it back up for a while. Our job is to settle it down and stop it catching again."

Accurate to the idea of background control plus intermittent worsening — and instantly graspable.

Pattern 04

Check understanding without making them feel tested

What many candidates say"Do you understand?"
becomes
What scores in the room"Just so I know I've explained it clearly — what would you tell your partner at home about what's going on?"

"Do you understand?" nearly always earns a polite "yes" that means nothing. Asking them to put it in their own words — framed as checking your explanation, not testing them — is the real understanding-check, and it's the version that's marked.

Your turn

Confirm the patient has really understood their new diagnosis — gently, without it feeling like an exam.

"I always worry I've not been clear enough — would you mind telling me back, in your own words, what you've taken from this? Then I can fill in anything I've missed."

The "fault" sits with your explanation, not their understanding. That's what makes it safe to answer honestly.

Register notes — plain-English voice

Where marks bleed when explaining