Appropriate Patient Education Upon Discharge From The Emergency Department Essay

Literacy. The Google dictionary definition will say “The ability to read and write.” Or “Competence or knowledge in a specified area.” But what does the word literacy mean to you? What literacy means to

I define literacy as being able to express my thoughts and emotions. I know everyone has different opinions and emotions. Therefore, everyone will write differently and read in a different pace. Also, everyone likes different types of books, for example fiction or nonfiction. As a result, everyone’s literacy journey is unique. Everyone has a different definition when it comes to literacy which is what makes it special. Some prefer to read and others prefer to write. It all depends on personal preference.

Literacy is being able to read and write; having said this it would be safe to say literacy means learning from books. However, think about the evolution of literacy and the different ways in which children and people learn and retrieve information; this definition could also include interaction with the digital text. There is a wide range as to what counts as literacy such as blogging, social networking, emailing, digital storytelling, online chatting and even shopping online just to name a few. Not everyone will agree with what is now counted as literacy, but if students are not enlightened on the many aspects of what could make them valuable assets in the future; that would be negligent. In Rich’s article digital literacy is being discussed which is the topic this response will focus on. Learning is not restricted only to the classroom. Digital literacy can be beneficial with

Our view of literacy upon commencing this course, was that it is the ability to read and write. Our understanding of it however was partially true because, reading and writing are essential of any person’s literacy, but reading and

Research shows numerous barriers restrict effective discharge teaching. Inadequate comprehension is the leading barrier preventing successful teaching thus increasing patient adverse effects, risks, and poor outcomes according to the article, “Effective Discharge Communication in the Emergency Department.” Reading level, advanced medical vocabulary, and low English literacy are the three primary categories hindering comprehension. This quantitative study concluded that the average reading level of sixth grade and the use of medical terminology make understanding instructions difficult and inhibit

Literacy: the ability to read and write, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The Merriam-Webster dictionary also says it is the knowledge that relates to a specified subject. A specific subject that I believe I have catered to my whole life is reading and sometimes writing. My current English professor had taken this broader definition of literacy and made it into our first assignment. Possessing a love for English and the art of reading and writing, I did not sweat the fact we had a paper to write. It may just seem as if I’m telling you a certain situation I am in at the time; however, my love for reading and broadening my vocabulary has helped me more than in a classroom. It has helped me throughout different instances of my life. These two mechanisms can assist one when they are navigating through their lives by using the art of reading to read the character of people and the world around them.

To myself, the definition of literacy is having the ability and means to read and/or write. Although this seems as though it is a stereotypical and common definition, I have found during the course of my life that this definition holds to be true to my personal being. When I was younger, I used to think literacy was simply the literacy book that we read out of during English class. The more that I grew, the more I realized that literacy was having the ability to read the book- not the book itself. While in junior high, my English course was referred to as a literacy course. During this course, we learned on what basis literacy forms. The teacher explained that literacy is not the words on the page; literacy is having the means of reading the words, and having the ability to comprehend what exactly it is that we were reading. Though this seems similar to cultural literacy, it is actually quite different. Cultural literacy is having the ability to comprehend and participate fluently in a particular culture, whereas literacy is just having the ability and means to read and/or write in general.

Literacy is, as described by the Norton Reader, 'imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value.' I did not know that all literary works count as literature, I just believed that only the most recognized and critically acclaimed works could be classed as literature. Literature does many things, especially to the audience, not only is it enjoyable to read, but it helps the audience probe beyond

An effective and structured patient education strategy facilitates compliance with state and federal wellness initiatives. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, Meaningful Use and Value Based Purchasing initiatives concurrently guide United States medical providers toward accountable care. In this environment, where provider compensation rests on community wellness, it is vital that patients understand their care plans. Organizations face a challenge educating patients with varied cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Additionally, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that over 50-percent of United Stated adult possess some degree of medical illiteracy, making effective patient education a top priority. Using the following six practices,

When speaking to an individual in regards health care, education the reading materials need to be given to the client at an approached reading level. According to Literacy Project Foundation" Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children." Health care workers must be aware of the client reading and comprehension level and also assist in addressing literacy needs of a client when giving a client written health care information. Health care works must also take into consideration a client age, and culture background when giving a client health care education materials.

The article Why are we waiting? Patients’ perspectives for accessing emergency department services with non-urgent complaints underscores the inappropriate use of the ED (Unwin, Kinman, & Rigby, 2016): Why are we waiting? tells us that even though 87.7% of study participants had a regular GP and 34.4% were visiting the ED during regular hours for most GPs, patients still chose the ED for a few basic reasons: it was clearly an emergency to me, patient may need to have tests, emergency department was more available than GP or other health care service, and patient was told to go to the emergency department by a doctor or nurse (possibly due to the need for additional testing or severity of symptoms). The study concludes that non-urgent presentations contributed to over half of all ED presentations and that appropriate, accessible, and patient centered services is predicted to reduce the daily non-urgent visits. I also feel that patient education through GP offices, nurse hotlines, and discharge teaching during prior ED care could reduce the number of future inappropriate

Every day in the United States there are 136.3 million people that visit the emergency department (CDC, 2015). To put this number into perspective that is 44.5 people per 100 persons (CDC, 2015). 11.9% of these visits result in hospital admission leaving 88.1% of visits to be discharged home with or without caregiver assistance or to another healthcare facility (CDC, 2015). While high numbers of patients being discharged is desirable, it is important to consider that “In one out of every 30 discharges things get missed. [For example] patients [are] sent home who didn’t know how to use their insulin or they got the wrong prescription” (Maguire, 2011). Another important statistic to recognize is that “Ninety million Americans have difficulty understanding their own medical care” (McCarthy et al., 2012). Similar adverse events and misunderstandings of medical care have been occurring in the emergency department at Saint Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut—a 60-bed emergency department with a fast-track zone that is classified as a level one trauma center. The nurse manager of the emergency department at Saint Vincent’s stated that many patients were not being adequately educated during discharge. She placed most of the blame on the nurses as it is the nurse’s responsibility to be educating and providing all patients with clear and concise discharge instructions. As of right now, most emergency departments do not have discharge instructions that

Emergency departments (EDs) across the country are inundated with too many patients based upon staffing and resources (Sun et al., 2013). This is a problem, as overcrowding in the ED has been shown to increase the likelihood of multiple negative outcomes. Patients who go to overcrowded EDs experience a higher likelihood of mortality, have a longer length of stay in the hospital, and incur higher costs (Sun et al., 2013). While the problem of overcrowding is a multifaceted one, one contributing factor is that low acuity patients go to EDs because they lack access to primary

Literacy is the foundation of every student’s learning, and learning to read English is a particularly challenging task. The OECD Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies defines literacy as:

When the word was first used, ‘literacy’ had a very traditional meaning: the ability to read and write (“Literacy,” 2011). Being literate was the norm, it was required for all and it distinguished race and class. However, as times change and culture emerges and grows, people acquire new knowledge, such as technology, that can very well be identified as literacy, or media literacy. As technology leads the 21st century, students are now expected to excel and master media literacy as well textual literacy (Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robison & Weigel, 2006). This is because the meaning of the word ‘literacy’ evolves into “the set of abilities and skills where aural, visual, and digital literacy overlap” (New Media Consortium as cited in