The Influence Of Patient Health Literacy On Positive Health Outcomes

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

Currently, more responsibilities are being given to the pharmacy technician that were traditionally performed by pharmacists, such as clarifying prescriptions and entering orders. With these additional responsibilities for the pharmacy technician, this will allow the pharmacist to spend additional time with patients. However, with these additional responsibilities enables more opportunities for error. In 2008, a study was performed at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, a 178 bed acute care facility

Many patients are finding it more difficult to afford their prescription medications. Comparing health care expenditures in the United States, prescription drug costs rank third compared to hospital expenses and physician services (Omojasola, Hernandez, Sansgiry, & Jones, 2012, p. 479). The rising cost of prescription drugs is concerning to many patients. “The high out-of-pocket prescription drug cost is associated with medication non-adherence and adverse health outcomes” Omojasola, et al., 2012, p. 480).

The very same items a doctor prescribes to help people get well might be making them sick. Prescription drugs are being taken for reasons other than the ones they are being prescribed for, fueling an addiction that impacts as many as 48 million Americans ("Prescription Drug Abuse" WebMD). According to MedLinePlus, "an estimated 20 percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. This is prescription drug abuse." While a considerable amount of time, resources, and attention are focused on the problems associated with illicit drugs, prescription drug abuse is "an increasing problem," with very serious consequences for individuals, families, and communities (MayoClinic Staff). The United States Office of National Drug Control Policy claims, "Prescription drug abuse is the Nation's fastest-growing drug problem, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic." Because prescription drugs are viewed as safe due to their being part of the doctor's pharmacopeia, the same psychological, legal, ethical, and social barriers to abuse might not be present. However, prescription drug abuse creates a wide range of problems, including dangerous or lethal side effects, long-term addiction, and the dismantling of family and community

In the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report in 2006, Preventing Medication Error, more than 1/3 of the 1.5 million adverse drug events that were recorded in the United States each year occurred in an outpatient setting. Likewise, in 2008 IOM released a report that laid emphases on the need for setting universal standards within prescribing and dispensing practices. Multiple studies reported that an increased prevalence of patient adherence to taking prescribed medications can be compromised by their inability to comprehend or understand the directions for taking the medication (Wolf et al., 2016). The inability to understand and interpret prescription drug labels were recognized as the leading cause of a large proportion of outpatient medication error and adverse events, as patients may possibly accidentally misuse a prescribed

Medication errors in the hospital setting have significant potential to result in serious injury and even death, thus effecting patients, families, health care professionals, and hospitals. Approximately 400,000 adverse drug effects (ADE) occur each year (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Considering that not all medication errors are discovered and reported, this number is likely to be underestimated. These errors not only contribute to patient morbidity and mortality, but also cause increased length of stay and hospital expenses. It is estimated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that $3.5 billion is spent annually as a result of ADEs (IOM, 2006).

How much knowledge do we have about the medications that we are prescribed from our physician? We don’t always as patients get to much knowledge about the medications from our doctor and we rarely ask the pharmacist about any concerns, and how many of us really have taken the time to read the description of the medications that is stapled onto the medication bag. I must confess I am not very good about that myself.

For many patients the scariest part of being in the hospital is having to rely on other people to control your life changing decisions. One large part of this is the medications one is given while in our care. I can only imagine what it must be like for patients to have a stranger to come in and start administering drugs to me. This would be especially scary if I did not know what these medications did, or what negative effects could be caused by taking them. Unfortunately, the fear of medication errors that many patients have are not unfounded. Estimates range from 1.5 to 66 million patients a year have medication errors occur while they are in the care of health care professionals. Considering all of the technology we have at our

While this type of incident is common in the hospital as FDA reported that nearly 300,000 preventable adverse events occur in United States (U.S) hospitals and many of them are as a result of confusing medication information (FDA, 2009). This incident however caused a stir at ABC Hospital prompting the Board of Directors and Governing Council to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the challenge and how to prevent future

“According to the Institute of Medicine’s Preventing Medication Errors report, the average hospitalized patient is subject to at least one medication error per day” (Barnsteiner, 2008, p. 2-459). A patient’s home medication regimen is frequently continued during hospitalization. It is often found that during the process of interviewing a patient to collect all relevant data associated with their medication history, over 60% of inpatients had at least one error on their prior to admission medication list (Salanitro et al., 2012). The many challenges and current inability to accurately identify medications taken at home can lead to potential adverse events. “An adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as harm experienced by a patient as a result

Background: Health literacy presents a huge challenge in the delivery of effective healthcare and quality outcomes. We evaluated association between low health literacy and healthcare utilization.

Cognitive decline in patients could result in a lack of understanding of the importance of the medication or possibly forgetting to take the medication as scheduled. One health care provider factor that should be mentioned is due to lack of trust between the patient and the health care provider. It is essential for rapport to be built between the provider and the patient for effective education of the medication. Medication factors could be the result of difficult to open packages, medications that require pill cutting, as well as the cost or lack of insurance coverage for a medication (Frances, Thirumoorthy, and Kwan, 2015). Some factors for noncompliance are easily prevented, and the assessment of the patient’s barriers towards medication compliance is

The provision of written medication information given to the patient helps significantly in cases of medication non compliance (McGraw & Drennan 2004). This is because it aids in memory retention and presents patients with access to a reliable source of concise medication information, particularly if the patient needs to be reminded of certain aspects (Gorgos 2006). These written medication information sheets need to be provided in the patients primary, dominant language because it reduces the difficulty and limits barriers to patient understanding (Gorgos 2006).This is important because this intervention aims to increase a patient’s understanding of their medications, and when a patient feels more competent with the use of their medications, reduced

Society’s role in protecting the consumers of prescription medicines is to actively play a role in the process that pharmaceutical companies follow when developing, testing and releasing new prescription meds into the market. All medication has side effects that issue warnings about what the medication can cause to your being. Physicians and patients need to both play an important role in giving the correct symptoms and doctors reading and diagnosing the patients symptoms. Doctors need to prescribe the correct medication to patients and should be very familiar with that medicine’s possible