and too, there are some doctors whose english and/or logic skills leave
something to be desired.  i'm certain most of us can recite anecdotes.

kate

Many Adults Have Trouble Understanding Medical
Instructions, Study Says
09-06-2006 12:51
By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON --  Most adults can determine at what
age their children should get vaccinated or
discern from a label when to take medicines, but
they still need help understanding many basic
health instructions.
A new report by the National Center for
Education Statistics found that most adults have
an intermediate health literacy.  However,
intermediate is far from good, because so many
health instructions are written in a way that's
foreign to how people talk and think, said Dr.
Rima Rudd of the Harvard School of Public Health.
"Intermediate skills means that a majority of
U.S. adults will have some difficulty using
health-related materials with accuracy and
consistency," Rudd said.
The series of tests had a total of 500 points
for a perfect score. Women averaged 248 points.
Men averaged 242 points. The study showed that
fewer than one in six people are proficient when
it comes to health literacy.
Many health directions are written at a level
that's above the average consumer, Rudd said. A
simple example, she said, would be a can of
baked beans at the supermarket. A consumer may
want to know the salt content before buying, but
the word salt isn't on the label.
"Of course, they wrote 'sodium,' but that's a
technical term, that's a chemistry term," Rudd
said. "You don't sit at the family table and
say, `Pass the sodium please.'"
The government attempts to measure comprehension
of basic medical instructions because low health
literacy can lead to higher costs and poor
health outcomes. If officials can make it easier
for patients to understand how to maintain their
health, patients may get more frequent
screenings or checkups, and perhaps they won't
have to resort to emergency rooms to get care.
The data analyzed comes from the 2003 National
Assessment of Adult Literacy, and it allows
researchers to examine the relationship between
demographic characteristics and literacy.
Besides comparing gender, officials also
reviewed the race, age and educational levels of
the 19,000 people who took the test.
The analysis showed adults older than 65 had
lower health literacy rates than younger age
groups.
Also, whites and Asian adults had higher health
literacy rates than blacks, Hispanics and
American Indians. Hispanic adults had lower
average health literacy than adults in any other
racial group.
The study's message is that health literacy
skills are not what they should be. The message
for insurers, drug manufacturers and doctors is
that they must improve their communication skills
if they want to help consumers understand
information, Rudd said.
"They're writing things at a level in the health
field that is very difficult for the general
public to work with," Rudd said.
___
On the Net:
Report on Health Literacy:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid2006483

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