Question

Reflect on your experiences with literacy/numeracy issues in healthcare settings. Explain any personal examples you have seen where poor literacy and numeracy skills prevented attainment of good health. What recommendations would you make to improve communication where literacy and numeracy limitations are evident?

Answer 1

Literacy and numeracy skills are of utmost significance in today's information era healthcare setting. One’s knowledge and his/her ability to use it is the foundation of his/her success. Numeracy or mathematical skills enables a healthcare professional to do various calculations essential in today’s healthcare system and the patients need this skill to understand what is being told about these. Literacy includes the abilities of reading, writing, and understanding information, without which it is impossible to understand facts or to read, write, listen, and speak appropriately in a healthcare setting. These are two basic necessities for clients in all fields and healthcare is no exception.

I have seen many people with poor literacy/numeracy skills struggling in healthcare facilities. It is generally seen that poor literacy and numeracy skills prevent the attainment of good health. Anybody who has good literacy and numeracy skills understands anything better than the ones without these. On the contrary, poor skills often lead to misunderstanding, misinterpretations, and misjudgments. Once I saw an elderly patient arguing with an RN regarding the medication route. The argument was about the medication route and dosing. The RN tried to convince the patient that whatever is given is the right dose and route. The fact was the patient couldn't comprehend what the doctor said and was having a heated argument with the RN that she was not doing it properly. The unnecessary argument delayed the timely administration of the medication causing complications that resulted in the fainting of the patient.

I would recommend a few modifications to the traditional heathcare setting to improve communication where there are evident literacy and numeracy limitations. One is the presence of a patient educator exclusively for patients with literacy/numeracy limitations. The second one is explaining everything in simple terms to those with limitations if there is no educator in the facility. Another recommendation would be to provide handouts explaining the treatment/procedure/disease in simple understandable terms. These handouts should have a diagrammatic representation. Yet another one would be to show the patient or bystanders on-screen presentations about the disease/treatment before the initiation of treatment.