Table 1:
Definitions of jargon categorization
| Category | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Jargon, chief- complaint | Jargon relating to chief complaint | tonsils, tonsillectomy, sleep apnea |
| Medical Terminology | ||
| Jargon relating to medical terms other than SDB/AT | High level: IGG subclass, laryngomalacia, medial meniscus | |
| Low level: steroid spray, carbon dioxide | ||
| Explained jargon | Jargon terms explained by clinician | “carbon dioxide, which is the gas we breath out” |
| “CPAP, which is a breathing machine at nighttime” | ||
| Contextual Jargon | Laymen terms which take on a different meaning in the clinical context | significant, candidate, quality of life |
| Complex language1 | Words that may be outside of the vocabulary of a lower- literate parent | Intermediate: prone, symmetric labile |
| Advanced: cusp, copious, caveat | ||
| Statistical language | Use of statistical results | “Getting tonsils and adenoids out will cure 80%” |
| “risk of post-op bleeding, in 2–5% of kids” | ||
1
Intermediate complex language was defined as words > 6th grade vocabulary. It was determined subjectively by two independent coders and confirmed via the GSL/AWL (General Service List/Academic Word List). Advanced (high-level) complex language was defined as words > 9th grade comprehension. These terms were classified as advanced vocabulary if they were > 7th level of the BNC- COCA (British National Corpus and Corpus of Contemporary American English) word frequency list.