Simply Telling Patients is NOT Education
Published on May 27, 2025
Chris Hogan, an Associate Professor from the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne with wide experience in rural, metro and academic practice and a GP Supervisor with RVTS, shares his insights on why simply telling patients is not the same as educating them. Based in Melbourne and a GP for over 48 years, he reflects on the importance of true patient education in the context of declining health literacy.
I was fortunate to be able to undertake formal training in teaching as a PGY 12. This convinced me that it is never safe to assume that our patients understand what we say even if they tell us they do.
Teachers discover what their pupils know by asking them. So should we. After all, the word doctor means teacher.
Why don’t they know? They don’t know because community Health Literacy has never been so low. Even if they Google topics, patients may not understand the answers. That means spending time educating patients rather than merely providing information.
Education is not just providing facts as people interpret “facts” through a lens of what they know or think they know. Education is a process of helping a person understand that information. People understand by incorporating new learning into their pre-existing knowledge and beliefs. This means the doctor must ask what that old knowledge and beliefs are and then correct them.
As teachers we must provide information for those who support patients - their informal carers.
We also need to inform people of the need for ongoing education as medical information improves and changes over time, becoming outdated.
There are challenges in the community with basic literacy and numeracy even in those who have had Australian primary and secondary education (Reference - Assessment of Adult Competencies, Australia).
There are problems with Health Literacy in Australia even in those who have done non health related degrees. Almost 60% have very poor understanding of the function of the body in health and disease. (Reference - Australia’s Health 2018).
As for the failure of Dr Google…….I had an old acquaintance who once used an article from National Asthma Council to prove that my advice was wrong. They persisted in this belief even when I pointed out that I was clearly listed as an author of that article!
Never assume understanding—always verify it. True patient education goes beyond giving information; it requires meaningful dialogue, checking comprehension, and actively correcting misconceptions. Take the time to explore what your patient thinks they know and build from there. Your role as a doctor is not just to inform, but to teach - and good teaching starts with listening.
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