Resident Code of Conduct: Language Matters, continued

If you answered “yes,” you are not alone. Many people have had this experience. Perhaps someone used an inappropriate label for you, or used another term or set of words that portrayed you or someone you care about in a bad way. How did you feel when this happened? Were you able to easily build trust with this person? Were you able to focus on the task at hand, or were you distracted? This is certainly not how we want residents to feel when we are presenting our codes of conduct.

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If you answered “no,” you can probably imagine how it would be uncomfortable, even if it hasn’t happened to you. When people are made uncomfortable, it often becomes difficult to build trust and remain focused. A large part of the social model is ensuring trust and understanding. We can avoid using terms and words that can distract from our intentions and make it harder for us to build trust and understanding.