Providing the Gist of Medical Expertise in the Context of Laws, Rules, and Guidelines: Fuzzy-Trace Theory's Alternative Approach to Improve Patient Communication

Current guidelines and regulatory frameworks create a dilemma that threatens the effectiveness of much needed communication between patients and medical providers: How can patients be presented with detailed facts without creating cognitive "overload"? We explain how this is a false dichotomy and illustrate, using three examples, how fuzzy-trace theory offers a third way of informing patients.