By Meghan McGowan
Read time: 4 mins.
Patients forget between 40% and 80% of the medical information they receive almost immediately, according to findings from several studies, and nearly half of what they do remember is incorrect. Miscommunication between doctors and patients is unfortunately common, often coming down to the issue of poor health literacy.
While today’s health literacy crisis poses a significant problem, improvements are within reach. Clinicians are on the front lines of helping patients understand their own wellbeing.
Dynarex physician care supplies help clinicians deliver quality patient care.
Defining Health Literacy
The CDC defines health literacy as a person’s ability to “find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.”
In practice, health literacy involves much more than reading, writing, and comprehending numbers. Studies note that it encompasses interpretating images, oral communication, technology proficiency, social networking, and more. Difficulties in any of these areas can make it hard for someone to take in, process, and apply information and instructions about their health.
Poor health literacy can have severe consequences. People who were assessed as having low health literacy had a higher likelihood of being readmitted to a hospital after discharge, a lower likelihood of engaging in preventive care, and made more visits to emergency departments than those with higher health literacy.
Where Communication Breakdown Happens
Low health literacy is more multifaceted than a simple disconnect between doctors and patients. Some of the major contributing factors include:
- Lack of Medical Expertise: When a patient doesn’t know things like what blood pressure readings mean, how certain diseases work, or the definitions of medical jargon, they can struggle to understand conversations that would make sense to doctors or medically-savvy patients.
- Overwhelm: Pain, physical stress, fatigue, and strong emotions are all common in medical settings, and can hamper any patient’s ability to retain and process information.
- Language Barriers: People who don’t share a first language in common with their provider can struggle to navigate medical discussions, even when they hold everyday conversations easily.
- Physical Limitations: Vision or hearing issues can hamper a patient’s ability to observe demonstrations or listen to instructions, creating the perfect circumstances for miscommunication.
Any patient can be prone to issues like these. Fortunately, providers have plenty of tools and techniques at their disposal that can help.
Conscious Clarity
Many providers find it useful to offer notes, printouts, pictures, videos, and other aids wherever possible to illustrate their points and help their patients retain information, like diagrams for dressing changes or appointment transcripts. Encouraging patients to bring a support person with them to take notes and remember important questions can also be helpful.
The “teach back” method is another tool that clinicians often rely on. After explaining something, a provider can say “I want to make sure I explained things well. Can you tell me in your own words how you’re going to take your new medicine?” This can provide a sense of how a patient has interpreted their instructions, and highlight potential misunderstandings.
Demystifying Medicine
Medical jargon can be a tripping point for patients not in the know. Using colloquial names, like “shin bone” instead of “tibia” or “high blood pressure” instead of “hypertension” can help providers make their language more accessible.
Some patients may not already know how certain parts of their body work, and an overview of the basics can make a big difference. Providers can try to offer brief explanations of how organs or systems function when discussing tests and diagnoses, like “the gallbladder stores bile, which helps your body digest fat.”
Test results are a source of frequent confusion. Providing normal ranges for a healthy result so that patients can understand where they fall can be a key strategy for improving understanding.
Beyond the Office
Improving health literacy happens before and after the appointment, not just during it. Clinicians can encourage their patients to write down questions and concerns before their next visit so they remember to bring them up. Additionally, it can be helpful for patients to know where they can direct important questions outside of appointment time and how, whether they’re calling a physician’s assistant or messaging their doctor on a healthcare portal.
From Information to Action
Anyone can have limited health literacy, regardless of their intelligence or circumstances. Addressing it is a key factor in helping to develop healthcare for the future, and helping patients to take charge of their own health.
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