A patient's ability to understand a physician's instructions is vital to proper care, but little has been done in recent years to improve health literacy. Physicians do not use plain English when explaining treatments, and prescription instructions are confusing for patients not versed in medical terminology, according to a New York Times article.
There are several factors for the continued lack of health literacy among patients, according to the article. They include less face time with physicians and patient embarrassment when they don't understand instructions or terminology.
Remedies proposed include asking patients several times whether they have questions, assessing the patient's health literacy, using plain language when explaining complicated topics, and providing clearly written instructions with orders.
To read the article, click here. To see a sample health literacy test provides by the Times, click here.
[ via Patient Safety Monitor ]
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