The Article in Brief

Background When a patient says “yes” to a doctor, it does not necessarily mean that they agree or that they will do what the doctor recommends. In this essay, the author describes how her understanding of “yes” changed when a friend from Ecuador was learning English. “Yes” may sometimes be a marker, used to keep the speaker talking when the listener does not fully understand. When patients say “yes,” it can have multiple possible meanings and can be a cue for the physician to probe more deeply.

What This Study Found .

Implications