Health literacy in healthcare is often framed as a patient problem. Infectious disease physician Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick sees it differently. In her view, the responsibility sits squarely with clinicians. For locum tenens physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician associates practicing in temporary settings, plain language and intentional communication may be the fastest way to establish credibility, reduce misinformation, and build patient trust. Read the full story for more advice from Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, a thought leader in health literacy.
When Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick first imagined her life in medicine, she pictured something traditional and almost idyllic: a clinic of her own, a steady stream of patients, continuity of care unfolding year after year.
There was no master plan to become a public health advocate and hosting a TEDx on health literacy, no blueprint to challenge how medical professionals communicate and no intention to probe the cultural norms of exam rooms.
“I thought I would open a clinic and see patients every day,” she said. “That was the vision.”
What changed her trajectory was not a clinical awakening. It was linguistic.
Somewhere between her infectious disease fellowship and her time at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, she began to notice something unsettling.
The science was sophisticated, the data were rigorous, the guidance was precise, but why were the patients confused?
The Quiet Breakdown Inside the Exam Room
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 9 out of 10 adults struggle to understand and use personal health information when it is complex or unfamiliar. Health literacy is often viewed as a social determinant, something shaped by education systems or socioeconomic factors. Dr. Fitzpatrick reframes it as a clinical behavior.
“We have a blind spot,” she said. “We use medical language that feels basic to us, but it isn’t basic to everyone else.”
Cardiologist. Hypertension. Colonoscopy. Inflammation.
These are not obscure terms buried in specialty journals. They are words clinicians use dozens of times a week.
In a moment that sharpened her perspective, Dr. Fitzpatrick realized her own father misunderstood what a gynecologist does. The assumption of shared vocabulary collapsed in an instant.
“If my father doesn’t understand,” she said, “why am I assuming my patients do?”
Why Clear Communication Matters More in Locum Tenens Medicine
In a permanent practice, misunderstandings sometimes correct themselves over time. Patients return, relationships deepen and trust accumulates.
Locum tenens clinicians do not have that luxury.
When clinicians step into temporary assignments, they enter environments defined by motion. New hospital systems, new nurses, new workflows, new communities. Often, new patient populations with distinct cultural dynamics. What they do not enter with is relational equity.
“The main disadvantage in any new clinical relationship is the lack of history,” Dr. Fitzpatrick explained. “But plain language should be the default regardless.”
In locums, however, the stakes feel different.
You may not see the patient again. You may not have the opportunity to clarify a misunderstanding next month. Your credibility is formed in a single encounter.
In that context, language becomes more than courtesy. It becomes critical infrastructure.
The Myth of Not Having Time
Every clinician recognizes the pressure of a 15 minute visit. Within a short window, it is tempting to treat communication refinement as aspirational rather than practical.
But Dr. Fitzpatrick challenges that framing.
“It doesn’t take longer to use plain language,” she said.
Consider the difference between saying, “I’m referring you to cardiology,” and saying, “I’m sending you to the cardiologist, the heart specialist, because…”
Five additional words.
For locum tenens clinicians working to establish authority quickly, those five words do quiet but powerful work. They signal patience, intention and respect.
The Teach-Back Moment
One of the most effective tools in strengthening health literacy is the teach-back method. After explaining a diagnosis or treatment plan, the clinician asks the patient to repeat their understanding in their own words.
“Ask them what they understood,” Dr. Fitzpatrick advised. “Then ask a follow-up question.”
The exchange accomplishes more than comprehension. It shifts the power dynamic and invites participation. It subtly reinforces that understanding matters as much as instruction.
For locum tenens providers who may never have a second visit to repair confusion, teach-back becomes a safeguard.
Artificial Intelligence and the Changing Healthcare Information Landscape
Patients now arrive at appointments having consulted ChatGPT, Google, online forums, and social media influencers. New data from OpenAI finds that 40 million people now use chatGPT daily for health questions.
While many clinicians view this as erosion of authority, Dr. Fitzpatrick sees it differently.
“These tools are often very good at plain language,” she said. “They help people formulate questions.”
Artificial intelligence accelerates access to digestible health information. It does not eliminate the need for physicians. It heightens it.
The role of the clinician, particularly in a locum tenens context, becomes interpretive rather than gatekeeping. The question is no longer, “Where did you read that?” It becomes, “Let’s talk about how that applies to you.”
Authority in this digital era is not built by dismissing external information. It is built by contextualizing it, Dr. Fitzpatrick suggests.
Healthcare Misinformation Is Often a Distorted Truth
Misinformation in healthcare rarely begins as fiction. It begins as a fragment.
Dr. Fitzpatrick referenced a 1970s study examining sugar and immune cell activity in mice. Over decades, nuance dissolved. What survived was a simplified claim that sugar “shuts down the immune system for five hours.”
“That’s not what the study showed,” she said.
When clinicians fail to explain rationale, patients fill in the gaps. In some communities, skepticism toward healthcare systems is not abstract. It is experiential.
Locum tenens clinicians, entering communities where trust may already be fragile, carry both opportunity and responsibility. Clear explanations about why a medication is prescribed or why a referral is necessary can dismantle narratives that took years to form.
The Subtle Signals That Undermine Credibility
Communication is not confined to vocabulary, she urges. Non-verbal cues shape interpretation.
A physician turning toward the door while a patient is still speaking. A glance at the clock. A shift in posture that suggests closure.
“Patients notice that,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said. “They interpret it.”
In permanent roles, relational history may buffer those moments. In locum settings, they can define the entire encounter.
Transparency can soften constraints. If time is limited, say so. Ask patients to prioritize their top concerns. Structure the visit collaboratively rather than abruptly.
Trust grows not from unlimited time, but from visible intention.
The Assumption That Erodes Trust
If she could change one habit across physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician associates, Dr. Fitzpatrick would choose something deceptively simple.
Stop assuming patients understand you.
Define the term. Explain the referral. Clarify the why. Every time.
In a workforce increasingly defined by mobility, flexibility, and locum tenens models, that discipline becomes even more consequential. According to recent workforce reports from the Association of American Medical Colleges, physician shortages continue to expand, increasing reliance on locum tenens coverage across the country.
Locum clinicians cannot control the length of the assignment. They cannot control workplace culture. They cannot control the community’s prior experiences with the healthcare system.
They can control clarity.
And in modern healthcare, clarity travels.
It travels across state lines. Across hospital systems. Across temporary assignments.
Trust does not accumulate only through tenure. It accumulates through comprehension.
For clinicians stepping into new exam rooms, that may be the most portable asset of all. When improving health literacy could prevent nearly 1 million hospital visits and save over $25 billion a year, it’s a skill worth sharpening.
Dr. Lisa on the Street
For Dr. Fitzpatrick, improving health literacy is not a theoretical exercise. It is lived practice.
Through Dr. Lisa on the Street, she takes health conversations out of the exam room and onto sidewalks, into homes, and into communities. It allows her to meet people where they are, to listen before explaining, and to demystify complex medical information in real time.
“Whether I’m explaining how a liver works to someone passing by,” she says, “or helping a family navigate Medicaid, a new diagnosis, or a hospitalization, my goal is the same: making health information relatable.”
That mission extends beyond individual conversations.
As the founder of Grapevine Health, Dr. Fitzpatrick leads a team focused on improving health literacy and health communication through tailored, plain-language digital engagement and video content. The work blends public health expertise with cultural fluency, translating complexity into clarity for communities that have too often been left outside the language of medicine.
For clinicians, particularly those practicing in locum tenens roles where trust must be built quickly, her message is both practical and enduring.
Clarity is not optional. It is clinical strategy. And it travels wherever you do.
