The RANZCO congress, held in the very large Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, welcomed over 150 practice managers, who got their daily steps in by walking between the conference room and the trade exhibition hall.
The opening speaker for both the scientific and practice managers’ meetings was professional trainer and health communicator and advocate Rachel Callander. The New Zealander now lives in Australia and spoke to us about effective communication for practice managers; however, her content was really important for multiple roles in healthcare. Callander introduced the ‘Language Matrix’ and discussed how our words can come across as:
Patronising – clichéd and ‘fluffy’ words, though often well-meant, do not help. One example being, ‘God only gives you what you can handle’.
Confusing – use of medical jargon, acronyms and long technical words will not be understood by many patients and families.
Destructive – dehumanising language labels patients with their diagnosis or symptoms, as do derogatory or negative terms.





