Table 3.

Caregiver Responses to the Team's Use of Medical Words

Caregiver response type11	Example from data	n (%)
Continuation Caregiver continues discussion and demonstrates understanding of the word	Medical director: Is she still taking her Doxycycline? Nurse: Yes, she is still taking Doxycycline. She's been on that quite a while, hasn't she (caregiver)? Caregiver: Yeah, yeah, it helps keep down infection, I mean it's supposed to. Medical director: And the nausea is something that she's had for a long time? Or Just … Caregiver: Yeah Medical director: Doxycycline can sometimes cause nausea. Caregiver: Yeah, but that was before she was put on the Zofran. Dr. (name) and Dr. (name) and Dr. (name) went through periods of trying her on different meds before they settled on the Zofran.	115 (34%)
Clarification Caregiver asks for clarification or definition of word or idea of word	Medical director: So why don't we say increase the Tylenol to scheduled four times a day. And maybe find a PRN medication that doesn't have Tylenol in it. Tylenol free we could use an oxycodone product, if we needed a PRN you know like a 2.5, whatever her doctor is comfortable with; that way she doesn't have too much Tylenol. Caregiver: Ok, oxycodone product four times a day, right? Doctor: No, the Tylenol would be four times a day scheduled, but then if she needed something extra we'll let her doctors decide what he thinks is best but it looks like she's getting too much Tylenol; we won't let her get too much. Caregiver: Okay, I don't mind her getting too much to keep the pain down.	6 (2%)
Confusion Caregiver comments indicate lack of understanding	Caregiver: Who's responsible for making sure she gets that medication? Medical director: We'll check in with that. They'll have something there called a director of nursing, so we'll have our nurse talk to their director of nursing a little bit so we can communicate about our plan on the team. Caregiver: Because I wasn't happy with it at all. Nurse: That's right, that's frustrating to have her be in pain and feel like you're not getting anything. I think this will help and then, [nurse's name], can you talk to you know, their nursing department out there and make sure we're all on the same page, okay? Caregiver: Okay.	1
Short responsea Caregiver responds with a short response (yes, no, uh-huh)	Doctor: Looking at her medicines, there are no major flags for fall risk. Is her heart failure worse to where lower extremity fluid burden is impacting her transfers? Nurse: It's about the same. The edema's really not changed. Medical director: Edema has not changed, so her going up on Lasix is not going to make her suddenly walk. I heard you say that she fell while there was a person with her assisting her back to the chair. Caregiver: Right.	81 (24%)
No responsea Caregiver's next line is a new topic in the transcript, and videorecording shows no evidence of nonverbal understanding (e.g., nodding); or team members continue talking without allowing caregiver opportunity to ask question	Nurse: He's had an increase in weakness and lethargy, no longer able to safely ambulate; he had 2 UTIs, increased pain; we've increased his long-acting morphine. He was put on Roxanol because there was difficulty swallowing his medication, his pills, and increased problems breathing when he exerts himself; and he's also been more incontinent of urine. Volunteer coordinator: I just wanted to let you know that the volunteer who's been out is having some problems with her knees, so a new volunteer is going to come out.	138 (40%)

^aOriginally defined by Koch et al. and modified to account for team meeting context.