Week 7

This week in class we talked about health literacy. This is something I hadn’t really thought much about before, but now realize how important it is for health professionals to put what they mean in plain language opposed to words and sentences that are complicated to the average person. We watched a video about this with real stories from people talking about their complications with health literacy. One example was a lady in a drug store trying to buy some throat drops for her husband who had diabetes. She was reading the labels to make sure to get something without sugar. Because the label did not read “sugar” she assumed it was okay. However, it did read fructose and glucose, yet she didn’t realize that meant sugar.

Another example that sticks out to me was the lady who had to take pills different times of day, but she couldn’t understand when exactly she was supposed to take them. She knew she needed to take 2 per day so she just took them both in the morning. She was really supposed to be taking one in the morning and one at night. These are examples of what happens to people when we don’t speak and write in plain language. It is important to consider the literacy level of the majority of people.

I also learned something interesting about myself in this lab exercise. After we watched the video we looked at a PowerPoint presentation done by the same group of people with similar information. I realized that right after I could barely remember anything that was on the slides, yet several different stories stuck out in my mind from the video. I guess different people have different learning styles, but for me stories stick better than facts. Another personal example is that if I watch a movie based on Pearl Harbor or WWII events I am much more likely to learn than if I read a history book.