Educating Patients: Creating Teaching Moments in Practice
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EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE Individuals who have low health lit- eracy compared to those with higher health literacy were shown to have 59% more days of poor physical health and 52% more days of poor mental health per month. Additionally, there were 20% more chronic disease con- ditions reported in individuals who had low health literacy (CDC, 2018). Studies have shown that up to 80% of medication information is immediately forgotten afterward, and about 50% of the information that is remembered is remembered incorrectly. The complexity of the information presented to the indi- vidual also impacts literacy. Eighty-four percent of people can understand med- ication instructions at a first-grade level, while 59% can comprehend the same information at a fourth-grade level, and only 8% of understand these instructions at a tenth-grade level (Agency for Health- care Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2020). Research has asked patients to de- scribe their understanding of printed in- structions on medication bottle labels. If instructions were on more than one la- bel, 46% of patients didn’t understand the complete instructions. For patients who were identified as having adequate literacy, 38% did not understand at least one label. One study examined both un- derstanding and demonstration of tak- ing medication. In this research, 71% of patients with low literacy showed verbal understanding of the label, and 89% of patients with adequate literacy under- stood it. Only 35% of patients with low literacy could demonstrate the correct way to take the medication, while 80% of those who had adequate literacy showed
| HEALTHCARE CONSIDERATION
Health literacy is usually referred to as “high” or “low,” but there are actual- ly four levels of health literacy: profi - cient, intermediate, basic, and below basic. Generally, individuals who are intermediate or proficient are consid - ered to have high health literacy. Low health literacy usually includes the basic and below basic levels (U.S. De- partment of Health and Human Ser- vices, n.d.). Health literacy is important for patients vis-à-vis not only understanding informa- tion regarding their health but also their ability to effectively use this information. Low health literacy can create misunder- standings when patient and family educa- tion is provided. Low health literacy levels are associated with poor patient out- comes, including readmissions and non- compliance due to lack of understanding of discharge information, increased devel- opment of chronic diseases, higher mor- tality, and increased days of poor physical or mental health (CDC, 2018; Hickey et al., 2018). Conversely, higher health liter- acy is related to improved patient health outcomes. When they have the highest health literacy, seniors in particular have been shown to have better health out- comes, notably fewer hospitalization, and visits to the emergency department (Unit- edHealth Group, 2020).
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