You finish a patient exam, review the medications and instructions with the client, and walk her to the front desk. A few hours later, the phone rings: “Wait,” she says, “when do I start this medication again?” We’ve all been there. The information we gave was correct and thorough. But something got lost during our explanation. In many cases, a communication gap is at fault, not a lack of attention.
Veterinarians learn to communicate complex medical information, but sometimes, pet owners don’t speak our lingo. Between stress, unfamiliar terminology, and varied learning preferences, even the clearest instructions can confuse clients. Add in language barriers, multiperson households, and digital overload, and it’s easy to see why critical details sometimes don’t stick.
If we want clients to trust us and receive the best care for their pets, we must ensure they truly understand what we’re saying, whether verbally, visually, or digitally. And that means examining what we say in the exam room and how we communicate on our websites, social media pages, email reminders, and app notifications.
The Literacy Gap
Human medicine has recognized the communication problem for decades. Take, for example, the reading level in written discharges, visit summaries, and posted information about medical conditions. The American Medical Association recommends writing patient materials at a sixth-grade reading level. The National Institutes of Health suggests eighth grade.
Why? Research shows that 9 out of 10 adults struggle with comprehending health information at some point.
Even among college-educated clients, comprehension can dip dramatically when they are stressed or emotional. In other words, the moment they’re worried about a pet’s illness is the moment they’re least able to process complex information.
Readability Made Practical
You don’t need a linguistics degree to improve health literacy in your veterinary practice. You need only a few tools and the habit of double-checking content before you post or print it.
Try these free online tools:
- Hemingway: Identifies the reading grade of text and hard-to-read sentences.
- Grammarly Premium: Suggests clarity and tone improvements and flags misspellings and poor grammar.
- Readable: Batch-checks your website or PDFs for grade level, tone, and sentence complexity.
- Microsoft Word or Google Docs: Built-in readability scores are available under grammar settings.
Even small tweaks — shorter sentences, an active voice, and fewer medical terms — can make a significant difference. If your writing reads like a textbook, make it conversational.
Here’s an example. Which paragraph would you rather read?
- A (technical): “When a canine exhibits pruritus, it is most often associated with ectoparasites, allergic dermatitis, or secondary bacterial infection. Persistent scratching may result in self-trauma or pyoderma, necessitating diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic intervention.”
- B (client-friendly): “When your dog is itchy, it’s usually because of fleas, allergies, or a skin infection. Scratching too much can cause sores, so we’ll want to find the cause and get your pet some relief.”
Both paragraphs are accurate, but only one helps the client understand what’s happening and what to do next.
Beyond the Words
When pet owners leave your hospital, they’re juggling worries, schedules, kids, car keys, and — God forbid — a dog on a retractable leash. Even if they understood every word you said, they’ll forget some within hours. That’s why written follow-ups, whether printed or digital, are essential. They include:
- Discharge summaries: Short, bulleted, plain-language documents help clients recall the next steps.
- Handouts: They reinforce explanations of chronic conditions, diets, or medication administration.
- Post-visit emails: They are easy reference for households and provide clickable links to other information.
- Infographics and visuals: A video, photo, or diagram of “How to give eardrops” communicates better than paragraphs of text.
If your practice uses an app or client portal, upload post-visit instructions there as well. That way, clients can access directions anytime without having to dig through paper or voicemail.
A timesaving option involves dictation software or AI medical scribes. Practice teams that use one of the many veterinary-specific platforms can document information quickly without looking down to write or type, allowing for more eye contact.
The Marketing Connection
Pet owners also interact with you in these ways:
Websites
Use plain, benefit-focused language. Replace “We offer comprehensive diagnostics utilizing digital radiography and ultrasonography” with “We use advanced imaging tools to find answers quickly and get your pet the treatment they need faster.”
In addition, add alt text to images for accessibility, and work with your website provider to ensure user-friendly visual text, general ADA compliance, and proper keywords.
Social Media
Avoid jargon and acronyms such as DVM, CBC, and TPR. Add alt text to images to help with accessibility. Keep your posts conversational. For example, “We use gentle handling and pheromone diffusers to keep pets calm during visits” is better than “Our team is Fear Free Certified.”
Emails and Reminders
Use short subject lines. Also, one-sentence calls to action such as these work well: “Keep Bella itch-free this season by scheduling her allergy exam today” and “It’s time for Max’s wellness visit because early detection means a longer, healthier life.”
Measuring Your Progress
How do you know if your client communication is becoming clearer? Here are four ways:
- Monitor callbacks and emails requesting clarification. A decrease often means improvements in comprehension.
- Track digital engagement. Simpler, benefit-driven posts often outperform technical ones. Also, look for high bounce rates on website pages.
- Solicit feedback by adding a one-question survey to post-visit emails. For example, “Was our follow-up information clear and easy to understand?”
- Run your websites and handouts through readability tools.
Every day, veterinary teams translate medicine into meaning. But if our words are too technical, our handouts too dense, or our delivery mismatched to client needs, the message is lost, and so is the opportunity for better patient care.
When clients understand, their pets thrive, and that’s the outcome we all work toward.
YOUR COMMUNICATION CHECKLIST
- Website content written at a sixth- through eighth-grade level
- Social posts in a conversational tone
- Email subject lines of under 50 characters
- Handouts using bullet points and visuals
- App push notifications that focus on benefits, not reminders
- Video or written recaps of key visits
- Client contact information and communication preferences verified annually