Poor Health Literacy

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What are the ways I can recognize and deal with poor health literacy?
Numerous people have trouble obtaining, processing and understanding the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decision. Some of the reasons for poor health literacy are cultural beliefs, lack of proper health education in the American school system, lack of awareness, misleading news and political disagreement when it comes to health care, lack of proper communication between health professionals and the patients etc.
As a future health professional, it is required to keep a very close connection with my patients and I feel that it is my responsibility to communicate with the patients in plain language. I can provide the patients with a very accurate, easy to use information about the health issue. I can confirm the patients understand the description about the treatment, medication and other health procedures. As a future health care provider, I can …show more content…

According to CBS news more than 12 million Americans were misdiagnosed in 2014 alone and the main reason for these misdiagnosis were poor health literacy and poor medical history. I believe every person should be able to access health care services, analyze the risks and benefits of the treatment, interpret the test results and locate the health information. To improve health literacy in the country, the better health education system should be implemented in our school system. As a member of Student Nurse Association at Sam Houston University, I could bring up the issue of health literacy in our organizational meeting and conduct an awareness program on campus. We could let students know about the benefits of public health classes and encourage them to enroll in one or more health education classes during their time with Sam Houston

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