Verbalizes understanding: What exactly does it mean?

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said he could not define hard-core pornography, but “I know it when I see it.”

We in health care seem to have the same reaction to the phrase, verbalizes understanding when it comes to patient education.  Patient medical records, including electronic medical records now include free text notes or check boxes indicating the patient verbalized understanding without actually defining this phrase.

In a world where ambiguous …

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