Patient Education: Learn about Health Literacy

What is Health Literacy?

Health literacy is how people get, understand, and act on information about health. Everyone must develop this type of literacy on some level. For example, someone with a prescription medication needs to understand how it's supposed to be taken, how much, and how often. People also need to be able to assess a health situation and decide whether to wait for an appointment with their primary care doctor or if it's an urgent issue requiring a trip to the emergency room.

Health literacy isn't just important for the patient. Most people at some point in their lives participate in caregiving activities for another. It could be their child, a parent, or a stranger in distress. A working knowledge of health literacy can save lives.  

Why Is Health Literacy Important?

It was once believed that doctors and other healthcare professionals should make all decisions about someone's medical care. Now we understand that it's been proven that patients experience better outcomes when care plans are made through collaboration between medical staff, patients, and caregivers. For that to happen, patients and caregivers need a basic level of medical understanding and healthcare competence. Today's healthcare system is complicated. Health literacy skills are needed to be able to navigate the bills, appointments, choosing a specialist, taking prescriptions, and more. Good literacy skills help patients understand how to effectively communicate with their doctors and take better care of themselves.

Ways to Improve Health Literacy

It's better if people start improving their health literacy before they become ill or injured. In the moment of being ill or injured you might not have the ability to learn or understand what you need to. Health literacy is considered such an important part of public health that there's a National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy. One of their recommendations is for medical staff to employ the "Universal Precautions Approach" with all patients. Professionals using this approach communicate with patients like they have limited information or understanding about their condition, medications, or the procedure they are about to experience. The professional uses simple, easy-to-understand language to talk to the patient and offers supplementary material like handouts or videos.

How to Improve Your Health Literacy

One great way to improve health literacy is by asking questions of health professionals. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification or more information. It's a good idea to go to every appointment with a pre-written list of questions or issues to talk about. When the medical professional answers a question or gives information, restate all the information back to them in everyday language as a way of ensuring they agree with the patient's understanding of what they have been told. It's also a good idea to bring a trusted person to appointments for help remembering everything.

How to Teach Health Literacy in High Schools

Making sure that children and adolescents learn health literacy is the best way to make sure the next generation is well equipped to deal with medical information. Children with health literacy will be better prepared for medical challenges that face them in the future. The best way to teach health literacy in schools is to add healthcare curriculum that teach kids age-appropriate information about how to communicate about the health of their bodies and minds. Involve healthcare professionals that already work in the school like the nurse, school psychologist, and school counselor.

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