Literacy In Healthcare

Basic literacy is the ability to read and write, my literacy skills began to develop while I was a small child. It all started with the bedtime stories my mother would read to be. It wasn’t until I got to school that it developed even more as teachers began to teach me how to read and write. I feel that in order to be successful you need to learn how to read and right, that’s why I took pride in learning it. I’m glad that I learned that at a very early age. I notice that to get a good grade on my writings I had to write how my teachers wanted me to write things. In the long run it did pay off because I got good grades on my papers. Obviously you can see that I had to

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

From Baker’s study on health literacy (2006), it depicted the health literacy as active and dynamic status which gives the consumers the essential abilities to act effectively within the healthcare system. The patient’s levels of health literacy would vary related on different circumstances whether it is relied on the health professionals at the medical procedure, the shared information that contains the type of medical diagnosis of the patient and the signs and symptoms of medical condition that patient may experience.

A healthcare disparity is a limitation of healthcare availability, usually among a certain racial or socioeconomic demographic (Black, 2013). However, there are disparities that don’t have a specific demographic and affect the entirety of the United States, which are potentially most detrimental to the overall health of our country. One of those disparities is health literacy, or the exchange of complex information from the healthcare provider to the patient or client (Black, 2013). The lack of health literacy in America poses as a problem, especially with the chronically ill. Without proper knowledge of how to treat their illness and what to do when the disease process worsens or ameliorates can potentially cause millions of unnecessary hospitalizations,

Health literacy has been accepted a keystone for health care services. Health literacy can be defined as “the prescription to end the confusion” or a “degree by which a person can develop the capability to understand the fundamental health related information and services in order to make proper health decision”. Health and social care professionals should consider influences of cultural and conceptual knowledge in health-related practices (Lehmann & Abel, 2016). The concept of health literacy is not limited in the practice of health and social care professionals. It also involves awareness of lay person in accessing and utilizing health care services available for them.

Health literacy has been demarcated as the measurement of the individual’s capacity to obtain, understand and process simple health information. It is needed to make satisfactory health decisions and determine services needed to treat or prevent illness. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topics, comprising the patient’s own body, appropriate conducts towards healthy results and the difficulties to understand the health system. It is influenced by many conditions such as our communication skills, age, socio-economic status, and cultural background, past experiences, educational level and mental health status (U.S. Department of

Health literacy has been a problem with our patients. The most vulnerable populations are the elderly, people with low-income levels, those with limited education, non-native speakers of English, those with chronic mental and physical health conditions, minority, and immigrant populations. Nurses have a great role in helping our patients succeed in understanding their health conditions. Nurses can be of great help in promoting health literacy. Sykes, Wills, Rowlands and Popple (2013) defined health literacy as the ability of individuals to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. The three domains of health literacy, according to Bennett and Perkins (2012) as adapted from the (WHO) (1998) are functional health literacy, interactive literacy, and critical health literacy. Functional health literacy is basic reading and writing skills to be able to function effectively in a health context. Interactive health literacy is the used of more advanced cognitive and literacy skills to participate in health care. Critical health literacy is the ability to analyze critically and to use information to participate in action, to overcome structural barriers to health (p.14). The U.S. Department of Education published the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003. The result showed that 36 % of adults have basic or below-basic skills for dealing with health material, 52 %

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

The systematic and comparative analysis conducted sought to examine and address the levels of communication and health literacy delivered to patients at one San Diego area hospital, and compare those HCAHPS Survey figures to that of the California averages and the national averages. Several of the findings are interesting and warrant close consideration. The data that reflected the close communication between the nurses, doctor’s and patients where they “Always” listened carefully are statistically significant. The communication techniques reflected through oral means by the nurses and doctors within the one San Diego area hospital, the state of California and nationally, garnered a relatively high satisfaction rate with

Literacy is defined as being literate, that is, being able to read and write in a language. My personal experience with literacy began at an early age, at the age of 4 when I began to sit and read words and letters in the back of my mother’s car. Soon enough, she would bring me a magazine called “Majed” which, in the 90’s, was a popular magazine. With this, I began even more interested in reading and writing and reviewed every word in the magazine associated with each of the short pictured stories. It was the first memory I deeply recall of literacy and it was what laid the foundation for my personal love of reading and writing. The methodology used for this is an interview. There are three interviews which are analyzed and brought together in the form of a narrative. This narrative serves to better explain the emotions and thoughts that the interviewees had about the idea of literacy.

The problems associated with the health literacy have been identified by the researchers in the last ten years. They came to know the role played by it in the medical as well as the individual self care by the comprehension of information related to health and the outcomes related to it (Carolyn Speros, 2004).

We could indicate them to patients and their characteristics and proclivities and others to those of providers. For patients to engage effectively in shared decision making, they must have a certain degree of health literacy. Suppose that all patients are at risk of not understanding their health conditions or how to deal with them. Health care organizations adopting this model would work to increase health literacy and patient engagement over the entire care span. If health care organizations first adopt the Care Model, a mode of delivering health care that draws on clinical information systems, decision support, and self-management support to provide comprehensive care for patients. Then, health literacy strategies would be incorporated into the model, such as the teach-back method, in which providers ask patients to explain back to them what the patients have learned, their own understanding of their condition, the options available to them, and their intentions to act on the information. A patient’s degree of engagement may be affected by such factors as cultural differences, sex, age, and education, among others. As a result, specific competencies, such as language skills or an awareness and understanding of religious beliefs, may be required on the part of clinicians and delivery systems to effectively engage patients with diverse cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic status. There are well-known limitations to human decision-making skills and the ability to maintain attention that serve as barriers to patient engagement. They argue that there may be better ways to influence patients' decision making, in which decisions to be made are structured so as to direct a patient toward a particular

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

Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their

For many patients, language and culture set the background and context for the procurement and application of their health literacy skills. Health literacy is defined as the degree to which an individual is able to access, understand, and communicate information in order to promote and maintain their health [1]. However, a third of U.S. adults—77 million people—would have difficulty with common health tasks, such as following directions on a prescription drug label or adhering to a childhood immunization schedule with a standardized chart [2]. Limited health literacy has frequently been found as a strong risk factor for inadequate health knowledge, reduced self-care ability, increased morbidity, and mortality [3]. People with low health literacy tend to experience higher rates of chronic illness and are less likely to use preventive health services when compared to people with high health literacy [3].