Promoting Health Literacy to the Elderly for Their Informed Decisions about Managing Their Health - Case Study Example

Student Name: Student Number: Course Code: Course Name: Semester/Year: Campus Course Convenor: Tutor: Introduction As a registered nurse who provides health care to people with less than 65 years and carers in their own homes I shall discuss about how to promote the health literacy to my clients so as to help them make informed decisions about managing the health care of their relatives as well as their own. I shall also discuss about the primary health care and the principles of primary health care. In this paper I shall also elaborate on the group of the client and the type of the health care being provided and also define health literacy and the determinants of the health care. Lastly, I shall also discuss the ways of promoting the health literacy, the strategies that can be applied and what the nurse is supposed to do in such a particular situation. Primary health care It is the first level of medical care, it is considered as the entry point to the consumer’s health or medical care system. Primary health care is also considered as the health care which mainly involved with the ongoing care, communal involvement, availability and the relationship between various sectors (Bennett, Chen & Soroui, 2009). Primary health care has a close relation with the proficient health care provided in the public, typically from an overall consultant or s registered nurse. The Primary Health Care comprises of a wide variety of health and protective services such as the disease avoidance, health education, screening and the psychotherapy. Principles of the Primary Health Care The Primary Health Care comprises of five major principles which includes the following: Inter sectorial cooperation: It states that the people’s health and welfare is well interrelated to both the social and the economic policy. The inter sectorial cooperation means that the professionals in the health sector works very closely with the professionals in the housing, immigration, financial, education and others sectors so as to ensure that the people get the best medical services (Murray, 2007). It also means that the health specialists from different disciplines cooperate and operates interdependently so as to ensure that they meet the health needs of the people. Accessibility: This means that the health services are supposed to be unanimously accessible to all the people in a certain region irrespective of their geographical location. The health care services should be distributed to all parts of a certain country (Rudd, 2010). This can be achieved by ensuring that the health specialists are available in rural areas, remote places as well as in the urban areas. Health promotion: This comprises of the nutrition, maternal and child care, health education, avoidance and the regulation of the rampant disease, immunisation and the sanitation. Through health campaign, various personalities, the families as well as the community at large, they are able to understand the various health determinants and also attain skills which help them to improve and preserve their personal health as well as their wellbeing (Howard, Sentell, Gazmararian, 2006). Public participation: This means that people are mostly encouraged taking part in making the important decisions about their personal health. By doing so they identify the health needs of their own community by putting into consideration the advantages of alternative approaches that seek to deal or solve the situation (Murray, 2007). The diversity in the community is put into consideration when the various individuals adopt the principle of the public participation. The public involvement in the adoption of the health care services ensures that there is effective and tactical planning of the health care and adequate evaluation of the health care services. It also means that this strategy of health care and the delivery is responsive in nature as well as flexible (Bennett, Chen & Soroui, 2009). Appropriate technology: This means that the continuous capacity building and the consultant development of the current labour force in the health sector whose awareness and technological structure is very dynamic and continuously developing. This principle will also mean that the people in the health sector will get the suitable health care from the most suitable health care experts within the most suitable time (Davis, Williams, Marin, Parker & Glass, 2008). The health care program is designed to take care of the elderly people who have just retired from their daily jobs. These people are just beginning their health care services. Therefore, the type of care given them will mainly be the primary health care service. Health literacy Health literacy can be well-defined as a person’s ability to comprehend and interpret fully the information available to them about health. This mental ability assists many individuals to be able to obtain the health information that greatly benefits them in improving their own personal health as well as the health of other people in the community (Howard, Sentell, Gazmararian, 2006). Health literacy can also be defined as the mental ability and societal abilities which greatly govern the capability and the enthusiasm to acquire access to the information use the information and understand the information in various means so as to improve and maintain good health. Impact of the health literacy on the health The health literacy can impact the health either positively or negatively depending on whether the level of the health literacy is high or low. Low health literacy level: In case the level of health literacy is low the health level is also low. This is because, a person who does not have the required skills of reading and interpreting the available information, will not be able to grasp or retrieve the information from the written materials (Benjamin, 2010). Therefore, they will not be able to apply the required knowledge on a certain situation. That is, when they are faced with a certain complex situation which requires the application of the knowledge that is acquired from the written material, they will not be in a position to do so. Also, they will not be able to give the right information about themselves when required to do so without requesting for assistance. High health literacy level: People with high level of health literacy will have high level of health. This is because, people who are able to read and interpret the written material are in a better position to grasp the information quickly and they are therefore in position to get more knowledge and skills as opposed to those with low levels of health literacy (Davis, Williams, Marin, Parker & Glass, 2008). They are also able to apply the learned knowledge to a certain situation without any assistance from any one. Ways of Promoting the health literacy The health literacy can be promoted through various ways which includes the following: storytelling, use of visuals signs and language, nursing imperative, easy to read materials and the evaluation of the language taught. Storytelling: This is where the nurse or the care giver encourages the patients to share various stories about themselves and this way they are able to air out some information that they can relate to. Also the nurses can use different stories that are easier to remember when giving the information so that the patients are able grasp the intended information. The health literacy can be promoted through the use of constant interaction between the patients and the care givers (Benjamin, 2010). Use of visuals and signs language: the nurses teaches the patients to communicate through the use signs language because it easier to grasp and understand the meaning quickly. The sign language is also very significant because the patient will learn it quickly and can pass the information from one person to another quickly as opposed to the verbal language. The sign language is also not affected by the noise element in the surrounding environment. These strategies can be applied during the early teaching and learning stages, during the continuous learning processes as well as after the learning process is over. When these strategies are applied in the beginning the care giver is able to determine the level of capability of the patients, the type of the content that shall be given to the student and also the time that shall be needed for interaction (Rudd, 2010). When in the middle of the process of learning the care giver is able to determine what have been taught and what shall need to be done, when, where, how and why it has to be done. When this process is conducted at the end of the learning process the care giver is able to determine whether what was intended to be taught have been taught, whether the objectives that were set at the beginning have been attained and what need to be bone so make sure they have been met. A nurse is supposed to help the people who have low health literacy levels to fill their medical documents and explain to them the mean that each document holds because a nurse is a health literacy promoter in the community. This will greatly assist in the achievement of better results since the patients will be in a position to give the right and appropriate information to the nurses or any other medical practitioner something which will greatly assist the patients to be able to receive the most essential treatment. The exercise is not an easy task for the nurses. This is because; the nurses face a great challenge from the patients who do not want to give the correct information to the nurses and also those patients who do not want to cooperate with the nurses. References Benjamin R.M. (2010) Improving Health By Improving Health Literacy. Public Health Rep, Nov-Dec: 125(6): 784-785. (Retrieved May 2014) Bennett I.M., Chen J. & Soroui J.S. (2009).The Contribution of Health Literacy to Disparities in Self-Rated Health Status and Preventive Health Behaviours in Older Adults. Annals of Family Medicine, 2009, May-Jun: 7(3):20411. Davis, T.C., Williams, M. V., Marin, E., Parker, R. M. & Glass, J. (2008). Health Literacy and Cancer Communication. Ca: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians,52,3. Howard, D.H., Sentell T.Gazmararian J.A. (2006). Impact of health literacy on socioeconomic and racial differences in health in an elderly population. Journal of General Internal Medicine. Murray .A, (2007) Community Health and Wellness: A Sociological Approach. Brisbane: Elsevier Publisher. Rudd, R. Improving Americans’ health literacy. New England Journal of Medicine, 2010; 363(24):2283-85. Read More