Health Literacy Has High Consequences By Elizabeth Phillips, Urban Regional Extension Agent, Mobile & Baldwin Counties

Nearly 90 million people, half the population of the United States, have difficulty reading and understanding medical terminology and health care directives, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Service's Healthy People 2010 report. Consumer health literacy helps individuals understand their health status, diagnoses, treatment, and pharmaceutical instructions.

Basic goals of health literacy include understanding prescription drug labels, health brochures, appointment slips, and the multiple layers of medical forms that hospitals, clinics, and doctor's offices now use upon admission for services. Many patients and their families are overwhelmed with complicated medical information and treatment consent forms.

Patients should always ask for assistance or interpretation on any topic they do not understand. Patients and families should not hesitate to ask questions or express concerns when unclear about their health status and prognosis. The American Medical Association (AMA) notes that certain populations are at particular high-risk due to poor health literacy. These groups include the elderly, minority populations, immigrants, low-income people, and those with chronic mental and physical health conditions. The reasons for limited literacy among these groups include low education, learning disabilities, and cognitive limitations. Health care providers and educators should take special care in explaining health issues with these populations.

The AMA says that health literacy is critical in today's health care environment, and that individuals who are proactive in using technology to improve their understanding, fair better than those who exhibit poor health literacy (JAMA, 1999). A multitude of websites now offer credible patient information to assist in health literacy. The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and other specialized associations can be part of the patient education process. Those individuals without the skill or access to computers can ask reference librarians at public libraries, hospitals, or clinics to assist in obtaining useful health information.

A 1992 literacy survey by the National Center for Education Statistics noted that the problem should be addressed among high-risk populations to improve compliance and decrease medication errors among patients. Higher rates of hospitalization and use of expensive emergency services are common among those with a low health literacy rate (RTI International, 2004). Improved health literacy programs would reduce these incidences and provide patients with more information and control over their health.

References

Journal of the American Medical Association. (February 10, 1999). Health literacy: Report of the council on scientific affairs. PubMed. Retrieved September 8, 2007.

RTI International­University of North Carolina Evidence-Based Practice Center. (January 2004). Literacy and health outcomes. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, No. 87. Retrieved September 8, 2007.

United States Department of Education. (1992). A 1992 adult literacy survey by the national center for education statistics. Institute of Educational Sciences. Retrieved September 8, 2007.

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