Nursefriendly.com: Basic Health Literacy

Showing posts with label Basic Health Literacy. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Side Effects? These #Drugs Have a Few - NYTimes.com

Dr. Jon Duke of Indiana University was trying to figure out why his patient’s blood platelets were abnormal. Could it be a side effect of one of the dozen drugs the man was taking, a number that is not uncommon among elderly people?

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Mark Pernice/Ashley Nodar

He began reading the label of each and every drug. “I was just overwhelmed,” Dr. Duke said. The lists of possible adverse reactions went on and on.
Now he knows why. In a new paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr. Duke and two colleagues report that the average drug label lists 70 possible side effects and some drugs list more than 500. “This was beyond even what I’d expected,” he said.
For anyone who has ever had to watch an entire Flomax commercial, the listing of a drug’s side effects is almost a joke. But the question is, why does the list continue to grow?

via nytimes.com

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Many paid caregivers lack health literacy skills :: May 4, 2011 ... American Medical News

More than a third of the people paid to care for seniors are not health literate, and 60% wrongly interpret the instructions on prescription labels, a study says.

Caregivers often are hired by families to help care for seniors with cognitive loss, dementia or Alzheimer's disease and who have trouble performing daily activities such as toileting, bathing, cooking and shopping. This makes it especially important that caregivers have the ability to understand health-related instructions, said Lee A. Lindquist, MD, MPH, lead author of the study published in May's Journal of General Internal Medicine (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21161420/).

Caregivers' poor health literacy skills can affect patient care, said Dr. Lindquist, a geriatrician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

via ama-assn.org

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

How podcasts can help patients with health literacy, KevinMD.com

by Robert Rodvien, MD
When a person is told that they have a serious illness, they are similar to Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
They enter a bewildering new world of discussions, tests and treatment programs that must be navigated while maintaining a job, life obligations, and relationships with friends and family. Just when a person needs more resilience to stress, anxiety can occur. The ability to function is often diminished in such a state, and, like Alice, many begin to grope for solutions. Patients, family members and friends begin to rely on anecdotes. Others find hope-based messages more acceptable than evidence-based ones. Some patients are willing to do anything that appears constructive even if there is no evidence of success.
Some patients seek to become experts in their field of illness and venture on-line to do so, but entering the world of medicine on-line often creates misguided but nonetheless strongly held beliefs. Much of the accessible material is jargon and advertising rather than unbiased information. Web sites and brochures are rife with marketing language to promote a hospital, company or pharmaceutical product, leaving many who seek information as wary consumers instead of informed patients.

via kevinmd.com

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Presentation Cites Ways to Counteract Low Health Literacy | National Nursing News

Although low health literacy is a significant barrier to quality care, especially among elderly patients, a recent presentation noted how increased use of simple health literacy assessment tests by nurses and clinicians can help improve communication and health outcomes.
Several screening tools are available to assess health literacy but are underutilized, according to a presentation at the 36th Annual Congress of the Oncology Nursing Society by Ellen C. Mullen, RN, ANP-BC, GNP-BC, nurse practitioner in the Lymphoma and Myeloma Center at The University of MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Furthermore, nurses and other health professionals routinely underestimate the prevalence of limited health literacy — the degree to which an individual can obtain, process and understand health information needed to make appropriate health decisions — and overestimate patients’ ability to understand medical information.

via news.nurse.com

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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

HealtheHuman

Powerful Tools to Help You Track, Understand, and Improve Your Health

HealtheHuman™ helps you keep track of your health and build a comprehensive health profile and history in one integrated site. We provide you one online solution to track and analyze all areas of your health, from your medical history and records to your diet, exercise, lifestyle, and much more. We provide 24 different health trackers, each customized to make them quick and easy to use, yet provide meaningful insights, charts, and reports. Our health history tools provide over 20 different tools to maintain a comprehensive personal health profile, from medical histories to occupation and lifestyle changes that could have impacted your health. And most important, all of the information in HealtheHuman™ is secure and 100% owned and controlled by you.

To learn more about the many capabilities in HealtheHuman™, click on one of the trackers listed above or visit our Features page.

via healthehuman.com

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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

ColonCancerCheck - Public Information - MOHLTC

Cancer screening helps see what you can’t.

Use this website to learn about colorectal cancer and the ColonCancerCheck screening program

Programs and Services

Learn about Colorectal Cancer

Often there are no early warning symptoms of colorectal cancer but if you catch it early there is a 90 per cent chance that you can be cured of the disease.

Your home test kit (Fecal Occult Blood Test)

Everything you need to know about the screening test and how to get it right the first time

What is the ColonCancerCheck program?

Make regular screening for colorectal cancer a part of your health routine.

ColonCancerCheck in your community

Learn about local partners, events, and supports that are nearby

via health.gov.on.ca

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Friday, April 1, 2011

Body Measurement Tracker | HealtheHuman

Body Measurement Tracker

Use the Body Measurements Tracker to keep track of your measurements over time. The tracker records height, weight, neck, chest, waist, hip, bicep, forearm, thigh, calf, and foot measurements, and automatically runs the calculations for BMI, Waist-to-Height, and Waist-to-Hip and other key ratios. How is your new fitness routine impacting the fit of your clothes? Find out where you are getting the most change and definition in your body by logging often and reviewing the results in the charts feature. Set goals to keep you on track and motivated. Whether you are training with a structured fitness program or just want to watch your weight during the holidays, you can do it all in the body measurements tracker.

Track Your Body Measurements
When you input data in the body measurement tracker, we will automatically calculate key metrics for you. Just input a few measurement and we can provide you with many valuable health stats to keep you on track. Our tracker also provides helpful hints on how to get the most accurate and consistent measurements each time.

With the body measurements feature, you can track:

via healthehuman.com

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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Physical activity improves quality of life. American Heart Association, Inc.

Do you want to add years to your life? Or life to your years?
Feeling your best boosts your zeal for life!
The American Heart Association recommends 30-minutes of moderate activity, but three 10-minute periods of activity are almost as beneficial to your overall fitness as one 30-minute session. This is achievable! Physical activity may also help encourage you to spend some time outdoors. Sunlight on your skin helps your body produce vitamin D, which brings many added health benefits.
Here are some reasons why physical activity is proven to improve both mental and physical health.
Physical activity boosts mental wellness.
Regular physical activity can relieve tension, anxiety, depression and anger. You may not only notice a "feel good sensation" immediately following your physical activity, but most people also note an improvement in general well-being over time during the weeks and months as physical activity becomes a part of your routine.
Exercise increases the flow of oxygen which directly effects the brain. Your mental acuity and memory can be improved with physical activity.
Physical activity improves physical wellness.

via heart.org

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Health Insurance Survey: 9 Million Adults Joined Ranks of Uninsured Due to Job Loss in 2010; Few Viable Health Insurance Options Exist for Unemployed - The Commonwealth Fund

An estimated nine million working-age adults—57 percent of people who had health insurance through a job that was lost—became uninsured in the last two years, according to the Commonwealth Fund 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey, released today. The survey paints a bleak picture for the 43 million adults under age 65 who reported that they or their spouse lost a job in the past two years, finding that job losses are often compounded by the loss of health insurance, leaving families vulnerable to catastrophic financial losses and bankruptcy in the event of a serious illness or accident.

According to the report, Help on the Horizon: How the Recession Has Left Millions of Workers Without Health Insurance, and How Health Reform Will Bring Relief, the unemployed have great difficulty finding affordable health care. Only 25 percent of people who lost employer health insurance were able to find another source of health insurance coverage, and only 14 percent continued their job-based coverage through COBRA. In addition, purchasing individual coverage was not a viable option for most people. Seventy-one percent of adults who tried to buy individual coverage in the past three years, or 19 million people, either found it difficult or impossible to find a plan that fit their needs; found it difficult or impossible to find a plan they could afford; or were turned down or charged a higher price for coverage because of a preexisting condition.

“This survey tells a story of millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the recession, lost their health benefits too, and had essentially no place to turn for affordable health care coverage—putting their health and financial security at risk,” said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. “The silver lining is that the Affordable Care Act has already begun to bring relief to families. Once the new law is fully implemented, we can be confident that no future recession will have the power to strip so many Americans of their health security.”

via commonwealthfund.org

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

American Association for Health Education

The mission of the American Association for Health Education (AAHE) is to advance the profession by serving health educators and others who strive to promote the health of all people through education and other systematic strategies.

AAHE addresses the following priorities:

Develop and promulgate standards, resources and services regarding health education to professionals and non-professionals.

Foster the development of national research priorities in health education and promotion.

Provide mechanisms for the translation and interaction between theory, research and practice.

Facilitate communication among members of the profession, the lay public and other national and international organizations with respect to the philosophic basis and current application of health education principles and practices.

Provide technical assistance to legislative and professional bodies engaged in drafting pertinent legislation and related guidelines.

Provide leadership in promoting policies and evaluative procedures that will result in effective health education programs.

Assist in the development and mobilization of resources for effective health education and promotion.

View a great powerpoint on AAHE!

via aahperd.org

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Seniors Not Getting Important Preventive Health Services-HealthDay Articles

Many Americans aged 65 and older are not receiving potentially lifesaving preventive health services, says a new report by several U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies.

Too few seniors are getting recommended vaccinations for influenza and pneumococcal disease, including bloodstream infections, meningitis and pneumonia; help with quitting smoking; or screenings for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol and osteoporosis, according to the report released March 14.

"Millions of Americans are not getting proven clinical preventive services that we know can prevent disease and improve quality of life," study author Lynda Anderson, director of the Healthy Aging Program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a CDC news release.

via consumer.healthday.com

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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

5 "Women's Diseases" Your Husband Can Get - Nursing Link

Vicki Santillano | DivineCaroline

March 14, 2011

It’s hard to escape the flagrant gender labeling in our society. Dolls and the color pink are associated with girls, while guys are assigned GI Joes and the “manly” color blue. And the trend doesn’t stop at childhood, either. Even the medical industry tends to ascribe certain diseases to men or women, even when both sexes run the risk of developing them.

Recently, there’s been a successful campaign push to educate women about the dangers of heart disease, a condition previously associated with men only. By the same token, there are quite a few health problems facing guys that warrant attention. Men may be less likely to get these diseases than women are, but that doesn’t mean the danger—and the need for preventative measures—isn’t there.

1. Osteoporosis

Look at any advertisement for calcium supplements or osteoporosis treatment, and it’s obvious who’s being targeted—namely, not men. While it’s true that women are more prone to weakened bones, the National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that two million men have it currently, while twelve million more are at risk. Women have smaller frames, which give them less to work with as calcium depletion rises with age. But while women are often tested for bone density around menopause because their hormonal changes make bones more fragile, men aren’t until something major happens, like a fracture

via nursinglink.monster.com

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

HHS Releases National Plan to Improve Health Literacy | HHS.gov

Today, the United States Department of Health and Human Services released The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy aimed at making health information and services easier to understand and use. The plan calls for improving the jargon-filled language, dense writing, and complex explanations that often fill patient handouts, medical forms, health web sites, and recommendations to the public.
According to the report, efforts to improve the health literacy skills of both the public and health professionals are needed to achieve a health literate society—a critical need as health reform generates more demand for consumer and patient information that is easy-to-understand and culturally and linguistically appropriate.
According to research from the U.S. Department of Education, only 12 percent of English-speaking adults in the United States have proficient health literacy skills. The overwhelming majority of adults have difficulty understanding and using everyday health information that comes from many sources, including the media, web sites, nutrition and medicine labels, and health professionals.
“Health literacy is needed to make health reform a reality,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Without health information that makes sense to them, people can’t access cost effective, safe, and high quality health services. But, HHS can’t do it alone,” she added. “We need payers and providers of health care services to communicate clearly and make the necessary changes to improve their communication with consumers, patients, and beneficiaries. Today’s plan is only the beginning of a long-term process with our many partners in all sectors that we hope will result in a society that encourages people to live longer, healthier lives.”

via hhs.gov

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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Side Effects? These #Drugs Have a Few - NYTimes.com

Mark Pernice/Ashley Nodar

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Many paid caregivers lack health literacy skills :: May 4, 2011 ... American Medical News

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

How podcasts can help patients with health literacy, KevinMD.com

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Presentation Cites Ways to Counteract Low Health Literacy | National Nursing News

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

HealtheHuman

Powerful Tools to Help You Track, Understand, and Improve Your Health

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

ColonCancerCheck - Public Information - MOHLTC

Cancer screening helps see what you can’t.

Programs and Services

Learn about Colorectal Cancer

Your home test kit (Fecal Occult Blood Test)

What is the ColonCancerCheck program?

ColonCancerCheck in your community

Friday, April 1, 2011

Body Measurement Tracker | HealtheHuman

Body Measurement Tracker

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Physical activity improves quality of life. American Heart Association, Inc.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Health Insurance Survey: 9 Million Adults Joined Ranks of Uninsured Due to Job Loss in 2010; Few Viable Health Insurance Options Exist for Unemployed - The Commonwealth Fund

Sunday, March 20, 2011

American Association for Health Education

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Seniors Not Getting Important Preventive Health Services-HealthDay Articles

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

5 "Women's Diseases" Your Husband Can Get - Nursing Link

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

HHS Releases National Plan to Improve Health Literacy | HHS.gov

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