A
review of data gathered on the topic between 2004 and 2016 highlights
difficulties faced by persons with limited health literacy
"The
opportunities for communication failure by healthcare providers who treat
people for heart disease risk factors,
are rampant," said Jared W. Magnani, M.D., M.Sc., chair of the writing
group for the scientific statement and associate professor of medicine at the
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania.
‘The onus of making patients aware and knowledgeable about their health condition and planned interventions lies on healthcare professionals.’
Even
educated patients find it difficult to navigate through the information
provided in their test results or written information about disease conditions
due to excessive use of medical terms or jargon.
"A
patient with limited health literacy may not understand that a stress test
described as "positive" is not a good result.," he continued.
"Or we instruct patients to avoid sodium, when they may not know how to
identify and quantify sodium intake or even how to interpret nutrition
labels."
Persons Who Are More
Likely To Be Health Illiterate
According
to US statistics, limited health literacy is more likely to be encountered in
the following populations -
- Racial and ethnic minorities
- Elderly patients
- Persons with limited English
knowledge
- Less education
- Lower socioeconomic strata
- Currently,
only 12 percent of Americans are equipped with the necessary health
literacy to benefit from the information boom available on the internet
or successfully wade through the corridors of the healthcare system
- Even persons with higher education
can be overwhelmed by the unfamiliar medical terms and situations they
may encounter, according to the published statement
How Healthcare
Professionals Can Bridge The Gap Between Patients And Health Knowledge
The
authors of the paper strongly advocate using
"The Universal Precautions Toolkit", created by the federal Agency
for Health Research and Quality
"The
toolkit reminds us that health literacy is not a patient problem but is the
result of the complexities of health care delivery. It calls on health care
professionals to make changes that improve access to care for all
patients," said Magnani.
Some
of the measures suggested in the toolkit include
- Avoiding using medical jargon and
replace with simple terms understood by the lay person
- Avoiding using medical diagrams in
information booklets
- Sharing information with the
patient and answering their questions satisfactorily
- Providing understandable forms,
brochures or questionnaires
- Provision of telephone access to
patients to contact health professionals in case of difficulties
- Asking patients to bring in all of
their medications to the clinic to assess medication
adherence and to explain risks and benefits to patients
- Taking into consideration patient's
culture, beliefs and customs in their care
- Linking patients to specialist care
and primary health care
"We
employ specialized care for our patients and expect them to understand the
reasons for it and make lifestyle changes and take medications daily, many of
them for life. We owe it to our patients to ensure that they fully understand
their conditions and treatments," Magnani said.
Conclusion
There
have been several novel diagnostic and treatment advances in heart care during
the last decade as well as the availability of novel cardiac devices and mobile health
care initiatives, not to mention the increasing emphasis on shared decision
making with regards to patient management. However, all these will have no
value or likely not benefit the neediest patients as long as the issue of
improving the
health literacy of patients remains unaddressed.
Reference :- Jared W. Magnani, Mahasin S. Mujahid, Herbert D. Aronow, Crystal W. Cené, Victoria Vaughan Dickson, Edward Havranek, Lewis B. Morgenstern, Michael K. Paasche-Orlow, Amy Pollak, Joshua Z. Willey, "Health Literacy and Cardiovascular Disease: Fundamental Relevance to Primary and Secondary Prevention: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association" Circulation (2018) (https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000579)
Source: Medindia
