Helping Patients Prepare Lists of Questions to Ask at Medical Appointments (HLOL #243)

Health Literacy Out Loud Podcast

Akila Muthukumar graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with a major in human developmental and regenerative biology and a minor in English. Muthukumar helped establish and lead a question-listing service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She also has done a lot of writing, including for the health and medicine website, STAT News. She hopes to combine these interests as a physician-writer. This year, Muthukumar is living in rural south India (where she recorded this podcast) and working at a nonprofit dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities.

In this podcast, Akila Muthukumar talks with Helen Osborne about:

• Helping patients make a list of questions to ask at upcoming medical appointments.
• Strategies to help patients think of, and organize, their questions.
• Ways that this question list can benefit patients, providers, and students

More ways to learn:

• “The question list is a simple way to help patients prepare for appointments,” by Akila Muthukuma Valliammai, Leigh Simmons, and Karen Sepucha, STAT News, First Opinion. September 5, 2023.
• UCSF: The Patient Support Corps
• “Decision Support for Patients Making Life-Changing Choices (HLOL #49),” a Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with Jeff Belkora.
• “Questions Are the Answer to Helping Patients Understand Their Health,” by Helen Osborne. Published in On Call Magazine, June 25, 2008.

Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Third Edition, by Helen Osborne. The chapter “Question-Asking” is especially relevant to this podcast.

Read a transcript of this podcast.

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