"A Pill for Every Illness" — Revisited: Patient Information in Germany 2011

Medical issues have always been a major source of everyday public and interpersonal discourse. As in many European countries, the German population is growing older. Thus the aging process, the occurrence of diseases, their treatment and/or prevention as well as the cost of medical care will definitely remain subjects of debate and concern. The healthcare industry (involving governments, health insurance companies, big pharmaceutical groups as well as doctors and hospitals), the population (the potential patients) and the media are major stakeholders in this discussion. However, they all pursue diverging interests. Consumer health information (CHI) abounds in printed formats that can be classified into informative, persuasive and advertising genres. Moreover, television, Internet and mobile devices have allowed for yet another range of mixed genres (e.g. blogging, online support groups). This abundance of material has spurred the textual competitiveness of the various media. In the future, up-to-the-minute, real-time communication between patient(s), doctor and specialist will be prevailing practice. So we are witnessing a transformation in the way people make use of traditional and new sources of information about all sorts of health-related issues. This article briefly examines some developments in the German healthcare sector and considers their effects on CHI communication with a specific focus on comprehensibility, persuasiveness and author-reader relationship. Finally, the article will discuss the impact of healthcare-focused promotional texts. ------------------------------------------------ A pill for every illness : revisión de la información al paciente en Alemania. Desde siempre, las cuestiones médicas acaparan el discurso público e interpersonal. La población alemana, como la de muchos países europeos, está envejeciendo. Por ello, no cabe duda de que el envejecimiento, las enfermedades, su tratamiento o prevención y el costo de la atención médica seguirán siendo objeto de debate y preocupación. Las principales partes interesadas en este debate son la industria del sector (con participación de gobiernos, aseguradoras, grandes grupos farmacéuticos, médicos y hospitales), la población (pacientes potenciales) y los medios de comunicación, pero sus intereses son divergentes. La información a los consumidores en materia de salud (CHI por sus siglas en inglés) abunda en impresos que cabe clasificar en informativos, persuasivos y publicitarios. La televisión, internet y el móvil hacen posible una nueva gama de géneros mixtos (como los blogs o los g