Health literacy. Health care buzzwords of 2013. Two words that
can make a grown adult feel like a child. The elephant in the room. How do I explain health literacy without
making people feel like idiots? Life gave me an example.
Last week I needed to have my internet provider send over a
technician to troubleshoot some crazy problems I was having with email. I’m not new to computers or the internet, having
bought my first machine in 1987, but I didn’t understand why more than a thousand
emails that I had deleted weeks, months and years ago were reappearing in my inbox. The technician arrived with a trainee in
tow. I described my problem for what
seemed like the millionth time. The
technician turned and looked at his trainee and explained what they’d be doing
to check my signal strength, modem and router. I had no idea what they were talking about. I know what a modem does. I know what a router does. I installed both of them. But I had no idea what these two young men were talking about, didn’t understand what those numbers and graphs on their laptops were telling them, and I could guide them no further about my situation, never mind try to decide the next course of action. Clearly my computer literacy level was not as
great as I thought it was. I felt pretty
dumb, pretty computer illiterate, so I went and sat on the couch with my dog
and let the guys do what they do.
Translate that experience to your own health care
situation. You’ve owned your body your
whole life, and you have a kind of communication going with it. One day your body tells you that you’re not
feeling well, maybe starts a cough and fever and sends up an urge for chicken
soup. So you call your health care
provider and explain your problem in order to get an appointment. Then you go to the office and explain your
problem again to the person who has the machines that measure your weight, vital
signs and oxygen level. Then you get to
see the provider and explain it all over again. Maybe they’re paying attention, maybe not. Maybe you’re giving all the information they
need, maybe not. All you know is that,
when the provider starts explaining what may be going on, what tests you’ll
need, and how you should take your medicine and take care of yourself, you’re
suddenly lost in a language you don’t quite understand (“medicalese”) and you
start to rely on faith that whatever that person told you is the best thing for
you to do. You stop participating in the
process, just as I did with the computer technicians, and you step aside and let
the providers do what they do. And that’s
just wrong.
Enter 2013 and health literacy. Today we’re telling you that you own your body, and you’re empowered to make all the decisions about it – but no one explains just how you’re supposed to do that! How
do you know if you have the information you need and that you’re processing it
correctly so that you can make decisions about your health? You probably don’t. Many millions of Americans have basic
literacy issues to begin with, which means they can only read at or below the 5th
grade level. When it comes to health literacy, it’s not only those with low
basic literacy levels who run into trouble; even a person with a PhD in rocket
science can be completely baffled by what’s going on with their body. Anyone can have low health literacy. So don’t feel ashamed if your provider is
speaking a language you don’t understand, because that’s exactly what’s
happening – and it’s happening to many millions of people. Health care has a language and a culture all
its own. It’s a club, and you don’t get
to know the secret handshake. But we expect
you to understand what we’re saying and to make decisions about your health. We
expect you to understand your own anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology,
pharmacology, mathematics and all kinds of special topics that are second nature to us - but that are totally foreign to you.
