Health literacy is absolutely vital for patients to understand their own care and how to implement it themselves (Dickens & Piano, 2013). As one of the primary individuals tasked with the medical care of most people, nurses have a special responsibility in improving and establishing health literacy for patients. When talking with patients about their specific medical issues, nurses must be clear and concise in defining and contextualizing medical concepts that are pertinent to them; the nurse’s role must be to educate and inform the patient about basic medical concepts needed to maintain basic health, understand their medical coverage, and deal with any specific conditions they may have.
When patients come to nurses with information gleaned from online health resources (e.g. WebMD), it is important to inform them how best to read that information. I think the best resource for patients would be the site “CDC Scientific and Technical Information: Simply Put” page on the CDC’s website (US Department of Health and Human Services 2010, p. 91). This resource puts into plain language the complex medical terminology and concepts that might confuse or mislead those with poor health literacy. By having this resource to compare their online health information to, they have a better idea of how to read it and learn to think critically about it.
Another strategy I would recommend for patients learning to improve their health literacy is to not trust everything they read online, and to not read possibilities like diagnoses. Simply because one seems to have symptoms that lead to cancer does not mean one has cancer; often, patients will fear the worst of often benign symptoms. Trust in their medical practitioner and accurate assessment of their own symptoms will go a long way toward reducing stress and getting accurate diagnoses.
References
Dickens, C., & Piano, M. R. (2013). Health literacy and nursing: an update. AJN 113(6): 52-58.
Martensson, L., & Hensing, G. (2012). Health literacy – a heterogenous phenomenon: a literature
review. Scand J Caring Sci 26: 151-160.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion. (2010). Health literacy online: a guide to writing and designing easy-to-use health Web sites. Washington, DC.
