The power of language
September 1st 2010 03:54
Words, like numbers, can be twisted to suit the aims of the user.
There was an interesting news item today about a British doctor who has developed an iPhone application which can act as a stethoscope. Dr Peter Bentley’s idea was meant to be a toy, but the app works so well that it has been downloaded by more than three million doctors and is starting to appear in hospitals in place of traditional stethoscopes.
It’s free, about 500 new users a day are downloading it and experts claim it has already saved lives.
``Smartphones are incredibly powerful devices packed full of sensors, cameras, high-quality microphones with amazing displays,'' Dr Bentley said. ``They are capable of saving lives, saving money and improving healthcare in a dramatic fashion, and we carry these massively powerful computers in our pockets.''
This sounds like an all-round success story, and would be if it stopped there. But Dr Bentley has a problem. He claims he could produce more apps, including a mobile ultrasound scanner or an app to measure oxygen levels in the blood, but is being blocked by “out-of-date” industry regulations.
It is easy to see this as a call to review the rules which govern such things. However, the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the body in charge of new technology regulation, chose to see it as a challenge.
“This is such a complex area that we are currently looking at every application on a case-by-case basis,” an agency spokesman said. “'We want to ensure that these new technologies are effectively regulated, thereby protecting health and avoiding unnecessary deterrents, while at the same time removing any unnecessary obstacles to manufacturers who wish to exploit new technologies for the benefit of patients.”
Huh? In the face of implied, or perceived, criticism, this is the obfuscation defence which has been perfected by politicians. It’s an unnecessary deterrent in its own right.
The Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency would help both developers and users of new technology a great deal better if it used simpler language to present a clearer message.
A little more care about language could have produced something like: “The agency’s job is to find a balance between fostering the development of technology and ensuring the public is protected from unscrupulous or incompetent efforts. Regulations, like technology itself, are always developing, and breakthroughs like that of Dr Bentley are the guides we, as regulators, use to keep being effective. We congratulate Dr Bentley on the stethoscope app, and will contact him immediately to discuss the obstacles he sees to further smart phone applications.”
Clear, simple and positive, and much more likely to lead to productive dialogue than the pretentious jargon above.
At any level of communication, language can be used to build obstacles or clear the way for progress.
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