The Privileged Status of Prestigious Terminology: Impact of “Medicalese” on Clinical Judgments

PURPOSE: Health professionals frequently use medical terminology like dyspnea or nasopharyngitis. These two studies examine how the use of medical terms affects the judgments of seriousness, prevalence, and disease; and diagnostic judgments. METHOD: In study 1, a survey containing the names of 22 diseases with either a medical or lay description was completed by 47 undergraduate psychology students and 25 medical students, who were asked to …