Clay LinkousCo-founder, Linkous Solutions · International Speaker, Executive Coach, and Facilitator / Champion of Physicians, Leadership, the Human Experience, SDOH, Vulnerable Populations, & Neurodiversity.

#HealthcareLeadership #PhysicianExperience #PatientCommunication #PhysicianAlignment #LanguageOfCare

7 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:06

In this brief monologue, the speaker urges healthcare leaders and clinicians to reconsider the vague temporal language—such as “soon,” “in a little bit,” or “as soon as possible”—used when communicating with patients. Citing a Word Smarts article about the precise definition of “in a jiffy,” the speaker highlights how ambiguous time estimates can feel like an eternity to patients, heightening anxiety and damaging the patient‑clinician experience. Rather than merely speeding up processes, the speaker advocates for anchoring expectations with concrete, objective timelines. By encouraging leaders to model and promote clear communication, the goal is to improve the human experience in clinical settings and reduce frustration for both patients and providers.

Chapters

You know, have you ever stopped to think about how we communicate time estimates with patients? There was a fascinating new article from Word Smarts that notes the phrase "in a jiffy" actually has a precise scientific definition. Who knew, right? But you know, in healthcare, we use a lot of subjective words and phrases like "soon" or "as soon as possible" or "in a little bit." all the time. But fellow leaders, when a patient is sitting in an exam room or a hospital bed and someone says, "Hey, that'll happen in a little bit," that feels like an eternity. And when we don't communicate durations objectively, we accidentally spike patient anxiety, and that really ruins the whole patient and clinician experience when they walk back into a frustrated room. You know, sometimes we don't always need to speed up the labs Many times we just need to anchor our time estimates. So let's help our clinicians trade vague promises for concrete timelines. Let's lead the human experience conversation together. Hope you find this helpful.