Communication Is Most Vital For The Health Status Of Public

People communicate in order to establish and maintain relationships with others, to give and receive info and instructions, to understand and be understood, to share opinions, knowledge, feelings, and emotions, to give encouragement and show others they are valued. Communication is an essential tool a carer can use to meet the needs of people. It is the basic requirement of the job role to communicate with individuals and staff members on a daily basis. Communicating with other staff members ensures effective team working and continuity of care. It also ensures any health and safety issues and recognised and reported.

With the increasing immigrant population a third barrier affecting access to health care is a cultural barrier. Culture barriers can include values and beliefs, language and race and ethnicity. Health beliefs and behavior can become a barrier when patients decide not to seek medical treatment and instead turn to home remedies and healers when treating illnesses. Approximately 10% of Americans speak a language other than English and can be classified ad being limited in their proficiency. For these patients language becomes a barrier and they are less likely to receive optimal medical treatment (Flores, 2006). Horton and Johnson (2010) stress the importance of communication in reducing disparities and increasing the trust of patients in the health care system. As reported by the American College of Physicians, evidence reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to receive inferior care when compared with non-minorities. This occurs even when minorities have access to insurance and adequate income (Racial and ethnic disparities in health care, 2010).

In the United States today cultural diversity is growing more prevalent every day. The report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM: Unequal treatment, 2002) presented information that racial and ethnic minorities of all ages receive lower quality health care compared to their non-minority counterparts. Every effort should be made to stop the disparities surrounding cultural differences while attempting to understand the cultural health behaviors, increase cultural

A big problem today in health care for many people is health literacy. Health literacy is when a person is able to understand and process medical information they are given. Having low health literacy can affect how a person understands, and uses information about their health and health services (Batterham 2016). Low health literacy rates lead to big issues in communication. Limited literacy impacts health behaviors, decisions, and ultimately outcomes. Many people have low health literacy which leads to bad health outcomes. Research shows that low literacy is linked with the lower likelihood of people being able to manage their own health conditions, and less access to health care services which can lead to poor health outcomes. There are many reasons people have low health literacy, A lack of formal education and poor reading ability aren't the only causes of low health literacy. Low health literacy is associated with a number of things like poor engagement in health services, health knowledge, and overall health status. People with low health literacy may feel ashamed and try to hide it from professionals and family members. Most health care professionals are unaware of the level of health literacy their patient has. (Greenhalgh 2015) There is a need to identify individual health literacy needs and address how to work on solutions to benefit them and whole groups of people. Differences in health literacy

Chang, M., & Kelly, A. (2007). Patient Education: Addressing Cultural Diversity and Health Literacy Issues. 27(5), 411-417. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/564667

Communication is a process of passing or receiving messages, through individual or group of people. Lack of communication can minimize how people interaction with each other, sharing ideas, building a relation and understanding each other can only be achieve through communication. Also, in the care setting, employee, employer and the care user’s are able to deliver care provision and achieve their objection through communication. Communication enables understanding between people.

Sequist, Cullen, and Acton explain, “American Indians have nearly three times the national unemployment rate, and are less than half as likely to graduate from college” (2011, pp. 1967). With the low education levels that are common amongst this racial group, health care facilities need to make sure they are providing materials and teachings with appropriate fundamental literacy levels. In the book Advancing Health Literacy written by Zarcadoolas, Pleasant, and Greer, the authors describe fundamental literacy as, “The ability to read, write, speak, and work with numbers” (2006, pp. 56-57). As nurses, we need to be aware of others’ fundamental literacy to provide them with a sense of autonomy. If they are able to understand the materials they are reading, then they are able to make confident decisions about their care. In the nursing field, we provide many informational brochures, and are responsible for making sure our patients understand the plan of care. The text provided for our clients should be at an eighth-grade level, or personalized to each patient’s level. Nurses need to make sure they are conversing and explaining with no medical jargon, and allowing time for questions from the

Therefore, an important first step is to raise awareness of the health care gap among broad sectors, including health care providers, their patients, payors, health plan purchasers, and society at large” (2002, para. 19). Nurses play a vital role in eliminating barriers to healthcare disparities by constantly seeking out knowledge and evidence based practices in relation to cultural competence. “Cultural competence stands out as one of the most promising tools for curbing the slide and reducing the devastating effects of healthcare disparities resulting from a complex interaction of being uninsured, poor, racial and/or ethnic identity, gender, education and geography” (Harris, 2010, p. 27). Harris goes on to say that providers should understand that, even though their efforts are well intended, healthcare disparities will still exist in the healthcare system (Harris, 2010). Providers should aim for cultural competence through education and training, with the understanding that the end result is appropriate delivery of healthcare services and enhanced patient-provider communication which will ultimately lead to better outcomes for patients (Harris, 2010). Harris lists several programs/techniques for developing culturally competent healthcare workers such as

There are several of communication techniques used in health and social care settings. Effective communication is essential to provide quality care service to service user.

Higher rates of chronic illness in minority populations requires health care providers developing a plan of care to assess the dietary practices and traditions of a populace and gain the knowledge to assist these minorities with compliance, explain what behaviors can be modified amiably to be acceptable to culture and tradition. Risk behaviors also include lack of or late pre-natal care, the lack proper care, food and shelter and religious beliefs such as fasting. When assessing the health education needs of minority patients the provider takes an in-depth look at many factors. Factors to consider in program planning include language barriers, current disease trends in the community, literacy levels, and demographics to name a few.

The readings for this week’s assignment provides evidence that disparities persist in medical care for a number of health conditions and services in the diverse populations, which is impacted by their knowledge base. According to the article Strategies for Health Education in North American Immigrant Populations (2012) noted barriers that are included with diverse populations are cultural factors, which historical experiences and traditional practices shared with a group of peoples can prevent individuals from seeking health education and self-management of chronic

This paper explores several articles; studies, programs and campaigns that report on results conducted both online and offline, in relation to health communication, specifically in minority populations and the aging in America. The paper also introduces subset definitions within health communication itself, and how each piece of that communication is affected by several limitations within the aging and minority populations. From what has been seen in recent trends, health literacy and adherence levels are poorest amongst seniors and minority populations. According to Andrulis and Brach, of the nearly 60 million of American adults with limited health literacy, almost 32 million are Non-White and/or Hispanic (2007, p. S122). The CDC (Centers for Disease and Prevention Control), Healthy People 2020, and Health.gov offer several recommendations to tackle this issue that not only affects health statuses because of the miscommunication, but drives up health care costs as well. This paper will break down the various components of health communication, address the issues it has for “special populations” in the United States, offer solutions based off of proven methods to increase awareness, point out limitations of studies and programs and a future study.

To improve the delivery of patient-centered care it is very important for healthcare providers to be culturally competent and understand every aspect of human life, including beliefs, values, and customs regarding lifestyle and health care (Edelman, Kudzma, Mandle, 2014). In order to provide qualified care for minority groups, nurses should respond to their needs and be able to recognize patients' cultural differences, religious beliefs, spiritual and cultural values, their level of education with learning style, and their lifestyle. This may be benefit to the health promotion and illness prevention during nurse-patient education process.

To combat this there is a consistent need for involvement of leaders in the community to identify health needs and to participate in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health services. Training of and collaboration with community outreach workers has been shown to improve usage of health care services by minority parents for their children. Use of these workers is often critical because they serve as intermediaries between medicine and the ethnic community. With their knowledge of the language and accepted patterns of behavior, the services that are provided are often accepted more readily by these communities. Communication in the language of the client is essential to effective care and is another service outreach workers supply. Finally, practitioners and agencies must gauge their level of cultural competency and address any areas that are deficient (Hart & Mareno,

Health communication informs the consumer about health concerns and health issues. Social change and communication works hand in hand. Developing a dialogue in social change to help bridge the gaps due to lack of communication will be a positive step in better health care. “Health communication has much to celebrate and contribute. The field is gaining recognition in part because of its emphasis on combining theory and practice in understanding communication processes and changing human behaviors” (Parrott R. , 2004). I am passionate and committed for this cause as communication is one of the basic means of interaction in day to day life. I will address the lack of communication in health care, some of the downfalls as well as some solutions.