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Improving ‘health literacy’ important
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.
It includes a range of skills that improve the ability of a person to act on information to live healthier lives. These skills include reading, writing, listening, speaking, handling numbers, and thinking and interacting critically.
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People with a college education have basic literacy skills but can still have difficulty interpreting medical information.
Poor health literacy may lead to improper use of medications, misuse or no use of health services, poor management of chronic conditions, tobacco use and inadequate response in an emergency situation.
Low health literacy is also a major source of economic loss in Wisconsin. It’s estimated that $3.4 billion to $7.6 billion is lost annually as a result of the influence of health literacy on health outcomes and medical expenditures. Low health literacy also leads to higher mortality rates.
Health literacy is all about effective communication, be it verbal, written or in multimedia. Information should be presented in a way that is understandable to most people.
Sit face to face with your physician and ask questions if you don’t understand or need clarification. Repeat the information that was given to you to make sure you understand what is going on and reduce any concerns you may have.
Written material should be short, to the point, and use plain language without medical jargon.
See Healthiest Manitowoc County website, healthiestmc.org, for more information.
Peg Maule is the Health Literacy Coalition co-chairman.