Communicating Medicine—A New JAMA Series

Abstract

The manner in which medical information is communicated by clinicians has a major effect on patients. However, patients also receive medical information from sources other than clinicians or health care environments. Although information from the mainstream media, the internet, or social media may be more accessible for patients, these sources can present challenges for communication during the clinical encounter, particularly if real or perceived risks of a medical intervention are magnified and benefits are minimized. Clinicians have an important role as trusted sources of medical information. Helping clinicians deliver accurate information more effectively can lead to betterinformed patients.JAMA's mission is to promote the science and art of medicine and the betterment of public health. JAMA pursues this mission by publishing original research with Editorials and Viewpoints to provide the context for scientific findings and articles that educate readers on important clinical topics. JAMA publishes for a broad audience that includes scientists, clinicians, patients, health care leaders, policymakers, the media, and the lay public. An important priority for JAMA is helping clinicians provide evidence-based care to patients. Because communication in the clinical encounter is important for effective patient care, JAMA aims to help clinicians accurately and effectively communicate medical information to patients and help patients obtain unbiased information relevant to health.JAMA is launching an Insights series titled "Communicating Medicine" as a forum to introduce strategies for the clinician to improve communication of medicine and healthrelated topics to patients. The first in this series, "Strategies to Improve Medical Communication" by Cappola and Cohen, was previously published and described a framework from communications literature for examining information exchange in the clinical encounter. 1 In the current issue of JAMA, the article "Delivering Effective Messages in the Patient-Clinician Encounter" by Cappella and Street discusses strategies for clinicians to share credible and clear health information with their patients. 2 JAMA invites new submissions for this series. Articles in this series will be approximately 1000 words in length with an accompanying table or figure. Submissions should be based on rigorous research from the medical, communications, and social science literature. JAMA looks forward to launch of this new series and welcomes readers' comments and feedback. Inquiries can be made to section editor