{"id":6415,"date":"2021-01-18T21:07:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T02:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=6415"},"modified":"2021-01-19T11:14:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T16:14:35","slug":"4-ways-pharmacists-can-improve-health-literacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2021\/01\/18\/4-ways-pharmacists-can-improve-health-literacy\/","title":{"rendered":"4 ways pharmacists can improve health literacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By:  JANICE RODDEN<\/a>
Published in The Checkup by SingleCare
Medically reviewed by JEFF FORTNER, PHARM.D.<\/a>
OCTOBER 7, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is health literacy?
<\/strong>Health literacy is the patient\u2019s ability to \u201cobtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions,\u201d according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/a>. Examples of health literacy include knowing how to fill out forms in the doctor\u2019s office, comprehending laboratory values\u2014like cholesterol or blood sugar numbers, choosing between different health care coverage, or grasping how to properly use prescriptions. It affects how well people can access medical services, care for any dependents, and conceptualize their own health risk. People with low health literacy often also have misinformation about what causes disease and what can prevent it. That can mean poorer health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does health literacy matter for pharmacists?
<\/strong>Only 12% of adults have proficient health literacy, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality<\/a> (AHRQ). Meaning, the vast majority of patients may not be able to read and fully understand their prescription labels or follow-up instructions. And that can cause medication errors or other risks, such as increased mortality<\/a> or visits to the emergency room. \u201cPharmacists can prioritize making sure that patients understand what they need to know and do for adherence to their medications,\u201d explains Ruth Parker, MD<\/a>, professor of medicine at Emory University. \u201cThis can be especially daunting for patients on multiple medications who are simultaneously navigating the demands of chronic illnesses.\u201d
How do you do it? Start with these steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to improve health literacy 
<\/strong>Taking steps to improve your patients\u2019 health literacy can increase their investment in their own health, and build trust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Assess your patient\u2019s health literacy.
<\/strong>The first step to improving health literacy is identifying who\u2019s at risk for low health literacy. This can be as simple as asking patients if they understand what certain terms mean. Be aware of phrases or behaviors that might indicate low health literacy, such as referring to pills by their color or shape rather than the medication\u2019s name, or saying they will bring the medications home to talk about them with their kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, you can use one of the tools<\/a> provided by the AHRQ to measure understanding, such as the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine<\/a> or the Short Assessment of Health Literacy in English or Spanish<\/a>. Many people don\u2019t understand medical abbreviations or terms like discontinue, as directed, or dosage. The assessments can help you determine what type of information you need to explain. The AHRQ also offers Health Literacy Tools for Use in Pharmacies<\/a>, which includes info to increase pharmacy staff\u2019s understanding of health literacy and how to communicate more effectively with patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Use \u201cAsk Me 3.\u201d
<\/strong>Some patients don\u2019t know what to ask their physicians, feel ashamed of low literacy, or are socialized not to ask questions of authority figures. The Ask Me 3<\/a> campaign encourages patients to start a conversation with healthcare providers by asking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. What is my main problem?<\/li>
  2. What do I need to do?<\/li>
  3. Why is it important for me to do this?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Pharmacists can encourage patients to use these guidelines by providing the answers in plain language<\/a>\u2014meaning no technical terms or jargon. Use an active voice that is clear and direct when communicating, and break complex information into chunks. Encourage patients to \u201cteach back<\/a>\u201d what they\u2019ve learned so they don\u2019t walk out of the pharmacy and immediately forget what you explained. For instance, one way to initiate a teach back after counseling on a medication is to say, \u201cJust to be sure we covered everything, would you please tell me how you\u2019re going to use your medication?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Explain the details of prescription labels.
    <\/strong>If patients don\u2019t know what a medication is for or can\u2019t find the instructions on the label, they\u2019re not likely to take it. Most people can\u2019t easily spot the dosage and timing on a prescription label, and patients with low health literacy are likely to     overlook the warning stickers<\/a> on the side. So during a consultation, point out the info on the medication label or consumer information leaflet while you\u2019re discussing it, so they know where to look if they need a reminder later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Take the time to go over how the patient should take the pills, and what\u2019s important to remember or avoid\u2014such as heavy machinery or grapefruit juice. \u201cEncouraging use of patient-centered medication label standards such as those proposed by the USP and going beyond the \u2018do you have any questions?\u2019 to engage patients in conversation that demonstrates their understanding of what medicines they are taking and how to take them correctly are important steps,\u201d says Dr. Parker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Create reminders or quick reference tools.
    <\/strong>Juggling multiple medications can be challenging for anyone, especially so for someone with low health literacy. Many pharmacies use automated phone, text, or email reminders to notify patients when they\u2019re due for a refill. Check to make sure that the text or audio reminder script your pharmacy is using makes sense for people with limited medical knowledge, using the     AHRQ guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Consider creating a pill card<\/a> for patients with many medications taken at different times, or share a template they can use to create one at home. Or, hand out additional literature the patient can read at home, which also use understandable and appropriate language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The patient has already left the doctor\u2019s office or hospital, and may not have a follow-up visit, by the time they arrive in your pharmacy. Picking up a prescription from you may be the last opportunity patients have to ask a healthcare professional about what to do, and how to do it, before going home. Don\u2019t let the chance slip away unused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Source: https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/pharmacists-health-literacy\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Analysis:<\/strong>
    I chose this article for pharmaceutical literacy because it showed how pharmacists could improve literacy at a local\/community level with face-to-face interaction. It was also interesting to realize the data and facts surrounding pharmaceutical literacy – in that only 12% of the U.S. population is proficient in health literacy. It was interesting to note that “Most people can\u2019t easily spot the dosage and timing on a prescription label, and patients with low health literacy are likely to     overlook the warning stickers<\/a> on the side.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By:  JANICE RODDENPublished in The Checkup by SingleCareMedically reviewed by JEFF FORTNER, PHARM.D.OCTOBER 7, 2019 What is health literacy?Health literacy is the patient\u2019s ability to \u201cobtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions,\u201d according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Examples of health literacy include knowing how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":6421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6415"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6628,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions\/6628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}