Health Literacy
by Dr. Jon Hart
Here’s another article in the medical literature that was needed to verify common sense – an all too frequent occurrence in healthcare, as we seem to often forget it (e.g., handwashing). This one deals with a well-known social risk.
January 16, 2024
Health Literacy–Informed Communication to Reduce Discharge Medication Errors in Hospitalized Children A Randomized Clinical Trial
Alison R. Carroll, MD, MPH; Jakobi A. Johnson, BS; Justine C. Stassun, MS; Robert A. Greevy, PhD; Amanda S. Mixon, MD, MS, MSPH; Derek J. Williams, MD, MPH
JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2350969. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.50969
They assessed “whether a health literacy–informed communication intervention reduces discharge medication dosing errors and enhances medication knowledge compared with standard discharge counseling for caregivers of hospitalized children.”
Low and behold, when medication instructions were given to patients and parents in a way that addressed their level of health literacy (i.e., they could understand them as well as the medication’s significance), medication errors were reduced, and caregivers understood the medicines better.
Per the authors, “Routine use of these standardized strategies can promote patient safety following hospital discharge.”
Obviously, health literacy is a bit different from speaking Hungarian to someone who only understands Greek or French, but the conclusion would seem obvious – speak in a way that fosters understanding.
Medical-speak uses words often found in the English dictionary, but that doesn’t mean they’re truly part of the English language.
As we’ve heard from some of our guests on the BoPC Podcast, health literacy is one of the most pervasive social determinants of health that can put people’s health at risk – right up there with food insecurity, housing, and social isolation. Taking the time to assess a person’s health literacy – their ability to find, understand, assimilate, and use information given to them about health issues – can be the difference between successful treatment and patient harm.
This goes for not only discharge information but for all the information we’re trying to relay to patients about their problems, testing, diagnoses, and treatments. I don’t think we need another study to prove that extension of this study’s findings.
