According to a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), as many as 90 million American adults do not understand or do not have the ability to process the health information that they are given.
The report says that this widespread limitation in "health literacy" results in unnecessary healthcare costs, higher rates of hospitalization and overuse of emergency services – not to mention the fact that an inability to understand health information often leads to poor health outcomes.
The IOM defines health literacy as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic information and services needed to make appropriate decisions regarding their health."
Poor health literacy is not limited to the poor and uneducated. A person's education, socioeconomic, cultural, and religious background all contribute to a person's ability to understand health information.
…And the Problem Might be Getting Worse
In addition to those factors, our healthcare system has never been so complex, which poses a challenge for even the highly educated and well informed.
- Our healthcare system has more technology than we know what to do with, and it is increasing all of the time.
- An individual person has ready access to untold amounts of health information on the Internet, some of which is accurate and some of which is not accurate.
- On top of that, there are more medications available today than ever before. Yet time spent with physicians in office visits is shorter than ever before.
As a result, many people do not understand their doctor's orders or instructions regarding medications.
Medical Education Needs to Start Early
The report authors call for individuals, community organizations, educators, and health professionals to create programs to improve health literacy in this country. They suggest that children should be taught how to understand health information starting in kindergarten and continue all the way through 12th grade.
For the full report go to the Institute of Medicine Report. |
