“Was hab’ ich?” Makes Medical Specialist Language Understandable for Patients

Abstract

Health literacy and participative decision-making are central challenges of health care systems in the twenty-first century. To meet these challenges we need to give patients individualized and well-founded health information. The Internet portal "Was hab' ich?" ("What's my diagnosis?") provides this type of information: at the Internet portal medical students translate medical reports free-of-charge into a language that laypeople can readily understand. The aim in the work of "Was hab' ich?" is to make medicine understandable for everyone, and to place doctor and patient onto an equal footing. For this purpose "Was hab' ich?" uses the synergy between patients and medical students: it gives support to patients in their health awareness while providing further training to medical students and doctors in their communicative behavior.