While health literacy continues to be a nationwide problem, there are options to increase health literacy awareness to improve patients’ well being.
“It’s not rocket science and this is something we can do fairly easily,” Kelly Hubbell, associate lecturer in Systems of Human Behavior, said. “It may involve spending a little extra time with patients and take more time up front, but it will take less time on the back end and save a medication error.”
One of the biggest health literacy issues is that not everyone is aware that it is an issue, Hubbell said.
Health literacy is defined by the Institute of Medicine as the “ability to comprehend information and that use information in a way that promotes maintaining good health.”
“Health literacy permeates all parts of society and making people aware that there is something called health literacy,” Hubbell said. “Many people relate it to education level, but even someone with a Ph.D. can have a hard time understanding medical speak.”
Hubbell says that many factors can tie into a lack of health literacy including if English is not a patient’s native language and if health care information is written at a higher reading level than a patient understands. Patients are also usually reluctant to ask for more information.
“We as patients don’t want to seem stupid,” Hubbell said.
While Hubbell says that health literacy can affect all education levels, origins and all ages, she says that some data implies that people in age groups 65 and older may have more difficulty understanding health information.
“People in that age group can sometimes have problems with their eyes so they can’t read as well and they have might have problems with their ears so they can’t hear as well when the doctor is talking to them,” Hubbell said.
Another issue is that sometimes people in older generations do not read as often as they used to, decreasing their reading ability.
“More of the Baby Boomer generation went to high school and even more of Generation X went to high school and are usually better with computers than older generations are,” Hubbell said.
Even students in college can be affected by health literacy.
“I think it can definitely be a problem for college students, but that generation is usually really good about staying healthy and it’s also more assertive about looking things up and finding more information,” Hubbell said. “However, it might be more difficult for a college student to admit when they don’t understand something.”
While health literacy remains a nationwide issue, Hubbell believes that Wyoming is no different.
“I think health literacy is a big issue everywhere, including Wyoming,” Hubbell said. “Doctors estimate that about one-third of their patients read at a third grade level and below so I can’t see that it’s not a similar problem in Wyoming.”
In spite of all the concerns that surround health literacy, Hubbell says that there are ways to improve the situation including asking patients to reiterate what the doctor has told them and changing vocabulary they use when speaking to their patients.
To help improve health literacy, the Ask Me Three campaign was created. The campaign provides patients with three questions to ask to help them understand their diagnoses better including: What is my main problem? What do I need to do? Why is it important?
Hubbell also believes that health literacy is the responsibility of the health care provider as well the patient.
“It’s a two-way street. Healthcare professionals need to be aware that is a widespread problem and patients need to recognize that it’s to okay to say ‘I don’t understand,’” she said.
