Health literacy is both a consumer and public healthcare issue. As a health care provider, it is not only my responsibility to ensure that you understand your health and what is going on
The concept of health literacy has been a widely researched topic within the field of health for quite some time. The importance of health literacy is multi faceted, and an important aspect for not only an individual’s health, but for community health, and for the understanding of health professionals as well.
Health literacy assessment should be performed with care and sensitivity, because the social implications of identifying a patient as being of low health literacy could be counterproductive. Currently, supported literacy assessments are often time-intensive and logistically challenging, with most requiring in-person administration. So the tools need to be clear and concise, user friendly and less time consuming. There is currently no commonly used tool that measures this knowledge. However, recent Australian research has been undertaken on the development of tools and conceptual frameworks that may better reflect the overall individual health literacy of a person, as well as their broader social and environmental contexts. These tools include
Health literacy is the ability for an individual to understand the necessary ways to treat and maintain potential illness, as well as the knowledge to achieve a healthy lifestyle. This may include altering the way in which the information is given to the client in order to best allow them to grasp the material being presented to them. Effective health literacy also includes providing knowledge to the client in order to allow them to make informed decisions, become aware of the benefits available to them, and learn where they can access the care they require (Massey, Prelip, Calimlim, Afifi, Quiter, Nessim, Wongvipat-Kalev, & Glik, 2013). By providing education to the client in a way they can understand and are comfortable with, the nurse or health care professional is greatly increasing the health literacy of the individual.
What is Health Literacy? The definition of health literacy according to the US Department of Health and Human Services is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (USHHS, 2016).In their most recent study of 2003, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy indicates that 50 % of Americans have low literacy levels and that these numbers haven’t changed much since their previous study in 1992. Also in 2003, they conducted their first study on Health Literacy which had similar results. Health literacy can be dependent on individuals and systematic factors such as the degree of communication skills presented by the person or professional, knowledge of health topics, culture, demands of healthcare or public health system and
As mentioned in Heinrich’s article, Health Literacy should be considered as the sixth vital sign as it can significantly affect the patient’s treatment. To approach the topic, I will tell the patient that to prepare them and us, the providers, for their care, we will be giving them a questionnaire, which will tell the healthcare providers the best way to communicate and explain to them their healthcare needs.
The health literacy assessment is a great tool at the time of providing a better idea of the level of understanding for patients. I friends help me with the assignment, we used to different versions of the test to compare them and appreciate how easy or complicated they can be. After finishing them, we got to the conclusion that neither of the test versions were complicated; instead it was perceive like a word game. On the other hand I do not know if patients will fell the same way that my friend did about testing. Personally, I will not think having a problem administrating this test to a patient but I am concern on the patient wiliness to take a test. Many people can feel overwhelm about testing and not be too collaborative about it which
The financial consequences of low health literacy will affect society as a whole. Our health insurance will rise. The educational institute will be affect as they rewrite the health information in a simplistic format to make it possible for someone with low health literacy to understand the material. This is costly in printing but, also in educating the health professionals. According to the article, the cost of low health literacy annually per capita is $3,90 that is equivalent to the costs of health coverage for more than 60 million Americans. Personally, cost is not the only factor that affects society there is the problem of health risk to the public. Low health literacy patients wait until they are gravely ill to seek medical treatment
Focus of the week. The point of this assignment is to able to Archives the Shape America Health Literacy, October month twitter chat in Storify that panelist have done @SHAPE America twitter webpage so that anyone, anywhere, anytime can go back to check the stream of conversation or the summary and gain an insight into the topic that was discussed.
Furthermore, in order to educate the older adults, some teaching strategies are supposed to be acquired to enable them cope with their different deficiencies and still gather the necessary information they need to make healthy choices (Nair & Cienkowski, 2010). For health literacy to be efficient in the elderly, the nurses and health educators should always start looking at the history of their patients, short and long term deficiencies that they face, the effectiveness of their coping mechanism, what their needs are related to the cognitive functions, communication inadequacies, the amount of information they can take and how learning should be taught for different patients (Sabatini, et al. 2010). After all the necessary evaluation of the
I created a lesson plan for my third grade health literacy class. This lesson plan is targeted for third grade students in the general education classroom. In my classroom I have an abundance of diversity with different types of learners. My classroom makeup consist of two English language learners in which I have adapted materials for the personal hygiene lesson.
By definition, health literacy is the “capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services. It is the capacity to make appropriate health care decisions and navigate the healthcare system” (Frasier 10.17.14). Though it is a first world country, thousands of people right here in America remain vulnerable to decreased health literacy. Among this group of people is an incredibly large
Currently, in the United States, most non-health related individuals will have trouble have trouble understanding his or her medications or medical diagnoses. This becomes the matter of health literacy or rather a lack of health literacy, which is described as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions" (Hernandez 2009). The United Sates has a health care systems rely on printed materials to convey directions and instructions related to procedures, medicines, side effects, and self-care. This would not be an issue if it was not for the fact that materials are often written at readability levels that exceed the reading
The health and well-being of our nation’s young people is not a matter of luck. It is not a chance or random event. It must be a planned outcome. The case for well-designed, well-resourced, and sustained health education in the nation’s schools is compelling. Health education builds students' knowledge, skills, and
Identifying the learner’s knowledge, skills, and motivation to learn, and wants the learner need to know. IT is important to gather data about learning needs, readiness and willingness to learn, and barriers to learning. The nurse educator must also evaluate that they have learned to identify any cognitive, affective, or psychomotor learning needs. Also look for way ways to improve the client’s ability and motivation to learn. In collaboration with the learner, prioritize the learning needs. One the educator finds out these aspects, and the learning