October is Health Literacy Month. Read on to learn about importance of improving health literacy.
What is Health Literacy
According to the CDC, personal health literacy is defined as the ability of a person to find, understand and use medical information to make decisions for the betterment of their own health and that of others. Organizational health literacy means how well the organizations enable individuals to develop their personal health literacy. Health literacy has a mediating role between health and education.
The importance of health literacy and health equity
Health literacy is beneficial not only for the individual but for the whole society. Health literacy helps a person to take care of their health, prevent diseases, and manage health problems better.
Poor health literacy and health equity affects patients and the health care system. Studies have shown that people with poor health literacy have a higher rate of admission to hospitals and use emergency services designed for more critical patients. People with low health literacy are at higher risk of negative health outcomes, so it is the responsibility of the healthcare professional as health educator to impart knowledge to people who will benefit from it.
There are numerous ways of improving health literacy:
- Improve communication
Both the healthcare professional and the patient should make an effort to improve the communication between them. Doctors should try to ask open-ended questions to assess the patient’s understanding. It is preferable to avoid talking in medical terms and use as much simple language as possible. On the other hand, the patient should try to ask as many questions as possible for a better understanding.
- Provide effective health education materials
The healthcare professional should give prescriptions that are easy to read and understand. The medical terms should be explained, too, if used in the prescription. Hospitals should ensure that the forms and health education materials they provide to a patient contain simple and to the point, appropriate and understandable information.
- Use visual information
Visual aids such as images, illustrations, and informative videos help the patient to understand their health problem in a better way. Visual memory is strong, so patients retain more of the information.
- Use technology
Many mobile applications provide basic information about diseases that may be beneficial to know. A patient can be connected through such applications with the doctors, so that patient queries can be resolved by doctors instantly.
- Organize health literacy programs
Certified and knowledgeable health educators should be gathered to organize health literacy programs. They can visit schools, colleges, and community organizations to educate people about basic health issues. The main goal is to reach every person to create awareness and provide information about health to them.
Conclusion
Health literacy provides people with information that allows them to preserve and protect their health. No compromise should be made on health issues, and both healthcare workers, organizations, and patients should make efforts to improve health literacy.
===
Dr. Talha Malik, an MBBS student in Pakistan.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, February 2). What is health literacy? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/index.html
Griffey, R. T., Kennedy, S. K., McGownan, L., Goodman, M., & Kaphingst, K. A. (2014). Is low health literacy associated with increased emergency department utilization and recidivism? Academic Emergency Medicine, 21(10), 1109–1115. https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.12476
Merck.com. Why improving health literacy is important. Merck.com. (2022, May 10). Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.merck.com/stories/why-improving-health-literacy-is-important/
Sheng, J., & Schulz, J. (n.d.). Improving Your Health Literacy. Improving your health literacy. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.breastcancer.org/managing-life/health-literacy
Interested in teaching medical literacy pain free? Shop medical literacy resources!
You may also be interested in the following articles:
Four Cs of Medical Literacy: Comprehension, Conversation, Communication, Collaboration
What is the difference between medical literacy and health literacy?
Why is health literacy important?
How to Improve Health Literacy
 |
 |
|---|---|
 |
 |
