Health Literacy is a Long Game

 

As health care professionals, sometimes we forget that patients don’t understand what we may be telling them about their health. Even subjects like healthy eating when discussing carbohydrates, fats, and proteins can be difficult to comprehend for the lay person. Medical terms like unconscious or conscious, febrile or afebrile, and positive or negative are all examples that a patient may not understand. Think about a subject that you may know nothing about like physics, for example. If someone started rattling off terms such as binding energy, centripetal force, or escape velocity, you may not have a clue about this unfamiliar subject.

Health literacy is about people being able to find, understand, and use health care information. The more people understand the health information they are given, the more they can make informed decisions that can improve their health. Health literacy is a health equity issue, too, as race, ethnicity, education, socioeconomic status, and age can all factor in.

Attaining health literacy is a main focus of Healthy People 2030. The Healthy People initiative is written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and has been setting goals every decade since 1980. It serves as a guide to improve the health of our country at local, state, and national levels. The following information is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

5 Things to Know About Health Literacy

1. Organizations and professionals can improve their health literacy by using proven strategies, like answering questions in simple, non-medical language and developing and testing written materials with the audience they want to reach
2. Universal health literacy approaches benefit everyone. Vulnerable people like older adults, people who have difficulty reading and using numbers, or people who are not fluent in English face the biggest challenge. Anyone can have trouble understanding health information. If we act as though anyone is at risk of misunderstanding health information, everyone is better off.
3. Providers can use health literacy strategies to encourage people to take part in decisions about testing, treatment, and procedures. This lets people make healthcare decisions that fit their values, goals, preferences, and circumstances.
4. Clear communication between providers and patients improves health literacy, particularly if providers take the time to listen with respect and make information easy to understand. Checking to make sure patients understand the information is also important to ensure patients are informed.
5.  Being health literate will help people make informed decisions and take actions to improve their health. Being health literate can help people achieve their goals, whether this is trying to manage a chronic condition, engage in a healthy lifestyle, or take precautions to avoid getting sick.

With October being Health Literacy Month, let’s make it a priority to think about the information we are giving to patients and the words that we use. Look at what you’re saying from their point of view. Use patient-centered communication and the teach-back method for patients to state, in their own words, what health information was given.

New health care professionals come into the mix all of the time and will need training on the many key topics within health literacy. Seasoned health care professionals can always improve their health literacy skills with support and training. We have already been working many years on this subject. That is why health literacy is a long game. And as long as we continue to work at it, success will come.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/index.html

http://www.health.gov/health-literacy 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG-iY-em7mk