Health literacy in nursing practice and patient care outcomes

¶ … Health Literacy)

Nursing is one field that borrows many structures and understanding of literacy levels in any society. The basis and the level of health literacy among nurses are essential towards delivering the best service to the people. From an individual perspective, literacy in health is crucial in prescription, diagnosis, monitoring, evaluation, and assessment of the status of health at any level. Therefore, health literacy plays a critical role in shaping my present and future levels of performance as a nurse. In essence, a literate patient plays a role in this case by creating an ample environment for interaction with the nurse because they have some knowledge about their health. It makes it easy for a nurse to administer his duty and service. It makes it easy for a nurse to embrace the processes and crucial procedures that go towards providing a healthy, effective and sustainable health service. In essence, the status of health can be succinctly predicted with the use of health literacy more than it can be predicted by use of other variables like age, economy, and ethnic foundations of an individual. This suggests that health literacy plays a crucial role in assisting me as a nurse to have a better view of the status of health irrespective of the age and economic status of the people. Concisely, health literacy is crucial in the formulation, implementation, assessment, improvement, and sustenance of the status of health by nurses and all other health stakeholders in the world.

a) Significance of Concept to Presenter

As a nurse, I consider it imperative for nurses to have an effective response to the urge to create a healthy society by taking an active role in promoting health literacy. With knowledge and base of health literacy, I can understand the basis of research, promotion, and education of the patients' literacy. As obligated by the nursing ethics and professionalism, I am supposed to communicate with clarity and purpose to the patients while addressing their needs. When they are acquainted with some knowledge about their health, this process will be the easiest for me. In fact, the delivery of the best service will not be an option but a reality. Health literacy enables all nurses to adhere to the evidence-based structures of promoting good health in patients. The power of health literacy among patients will enable nurses to acquire, understand, and embrace the information needed in providing quality health services as expected of them. Moreover, health literacy plays a crucial role in outlining the basis from which nurses can serve the patients with in-depth understanding. With health literacy, nurses can embrace their numeracy, comprehension, and cognitive skills in the delivery of their mandate.

b) Significance of Concept to profession

The concept of heath literacy is fundamental to the profession of health. The profession is built by the structures involving information and research, which all require the paradigms of health literacy among all the participants. The concept of health literacy plays the key role in promoting the delivery of health services at any point in the field of nursing. It promotes effectiveness and reliability of the services offered, which go directly to promoting the standards of good health in the society. When the patients and the nurses have high standards of health literacy, cases of misunderstanding or experiencing the challenge of being a victim to shallow expression and ineffective diagnosis will be eradicated. The field of research benefits regarding quality research, education, and embraces of the right procedures for training, examination and practice. The field will promote the development of definitions that engender all aspects of health delivery. This delivery process will ensure that new measures are developed for a better service delivery. In the end, the status of health outcome will rise. With satisfactory health literacy levels, nurses will be effectively compliant to the course of health provision and development. They will not experience any hindrance regarding lower levels of literacy. Client compliance comes with readiness, effectiveness, and competence to fall within the right paradigms of course that leads to a derived better and prospectus health standard.

b. Presenter's beliefs about the concept

Before reading this literature, the concepts of health literacy were shallow in understanding and comprehension. I believed that just like illiteracy that has rocked the world; health literacy could be managed through normal programs of education. I believed that provision of health services could not be hindered by the prospect of participants being short of the comprehension and numeracy skills. Nonetheless, this is what the literature has explored and brought out in detail. I was not conversant with the necessity of health literacy in health provision. Before reading the article, I had assumed that the challenge of literacy education can be managed as long as the health providers are literate themselves.

c. Thoughts about author's definitions.

The definitions of literacy in both the patients and the nurses have fostered my understanding and application of the literacy of health. I agree with the definitions because they are in line with my understanding of the same. The diverse use of sources related to the definition shows the commitment to ensuring the audience could appreciate the broad nature of health literacy from both the patients and the nurses' perspectives. I am impressed by the explorative tactics used especially on the practicality of the concept in the society today and build a definition that captures all the practical aspects of the concept. However, I am a little bit skeptical about the author's knowledge in this concept because he has not provided succinct explanations beyond the quoted definitions. I would expect him to explain the definitions given by AMA, WHO, or Health 2010 further. This would have helped me as a nurse and other readers in appreciating the wider scope and importance of the concept. Nonetheless, the value of the concept analysis as undertaken is commendable.

d. Use of the concept in at least two other disciplines.

In other fields like education and psychology, the concept of literacy is a bit different but has its end-points appearing practical in nursing. In psychology, literacy is an essential facet of comprehension, understanding, synthesis, and offering of feedback. According to Nikolas Johannes Anne-Kathrin, and Gunter (2013), psychology literacy demands that every participant should be competitive to numerical and comprehension capabilities to understand behavior and its modification. Although this field does not require so much literacy in numerical strengths, its functionalism always employs a variance of skills including how to read, write, comprehend synthesize, apply, and give feedback. As used in health and nursing, literacy is still a hindrance to many psychology participants as they try to offer services to their clients. In education, literacy is an essential tool. It is as necessary as it has been used in nursing and health. Education cannot be offered without the paradigms of literacy being met. Rannikmae, Teppo, and Holbrook, (2010) show that learning takes place best from the known to the unknown. Literacy skills are applied from the known aspects to those yet to be known. Offering educative services requires that the participants can understand, work with numerals, comprehend, apply, and raise feedback from any learned facet. All these fields require the concepts attained as part of gaining literacy before they can become practical and successful like in nursing.

III. Definitions

A. State five definitions of the concept.

From the article, three definitions of health literacy have been expressed. They include:

The definition by AMA as given in the article refers to 'a constellation of skills, including the ability to perform basic reading and numerical tasks required to function in the health care environment." Speros, 2005). The inherent meaning of this definition is the ability to use the acquired skills to read, write, and work and apply numerical competency on matters related to health. It is the application of these three parameters of literacy in a medical context. However, this definition does not capture the wider scope of health care to go beyond the basic settings of health care, like applicability in community activities and works. Moreover, it has not captured the relatedness of the concept to the verbal communication, social structures of interaction, and the capability to act.

In the article, Healthy People 2010 as offered the definition of literacy as 'the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.' Speros, 2005). From the article, the U.S. Federal government is shown to have liked this definition of literacy. The inherent features of this definition are that it requires participants to use advanced level of thinking to make informed decisions as relates personal health. The limitation of this definition is that it has been limited to the participant's capacity and competence without keeping a closer consideration of the contributors to the health system.

The other definition of the concept of health literacy has been captured from the World Health Organization as, "Health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills, which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health" (Speros, 2005). This definition views health literacy as an outcome or the product of the promotion of health and education matters on health, with both social and personal benefits. Nonetheless, this definition is short of the exact practicality of health literacy in the society as a whole.

B. Variety of sources for definitions.

The definitions for the concept of health literacy were obtained from journals and peer-reviewed articles. These sources ranged from those of the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and literature from the archival sources like the National Library of Medicine. The quoted definitions are obtained from the different sources.

C. Comparison of definitions

The author has made one limitation by not comparing the sources of the articles. WHO defines health literacy as the sum of cognitive skills and the social skills shaping the motivation and capability of people to contact, understand, and use the information to promote good health. In contrast, the Healthy People 2010 definition later adopted by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defined it as the magnitude to which people have the capability to acquire, process, and comprehend fundamental health data and services required to make decisions about health. Additional definition from AMA defined it as a gathering of skills, comprising the aptitude to carry out basic reading and numerical requirements needed to work in the health care environment. All the three definitions require a person to know how to deal with health information in the way they have been given. They are different in writing but have a similar meaning.

IV. Antecedents

Are there antecedents.

Antecedents are events that precede the occurrence of a concept. They relate to the previous histories of health literacy as presented in the article.

List and discuss antecedents.

The antecedents identified are literacy and health-related experience. Literacy refers to the use of printed and written data to work in a society and achieve the set goals, develop the potential, and advance knowledge.

Relevance to analysis

The analysis has used antecedents for various reasons. Antecedents serve the purpose of bringing out the literate review of the health literacy. They expose the existing stock of knowledge and experiences that are related to human health literacy. Moreover, antecedents serve the purpose of providing a platform in understanding the history, progression, and the current situations of health literacy around the globe. There must be literacy or knowledge of the matters being discussed together with the experiences that led to the circumstances. Such antecedents present the case as a complete happening.

V. Defining Characteristics/Attributes

a. List characteristics.

The defining characteristics are attributes related to the concept and come into view repeatedly during a study. In this concept of health literacy, the defining characteristics are:

Numeracy and reading,

Comprehension,

Successful working of the health care consumer, and The capability to make use of information.

b. Discussion about characteristics

Numeracy is the ability to interpret and use numbers. Comprehension is the ability to understand written words. Successful working of the consumer implies the ability of the consumer to incorporate the instructions expressed in words and numbers to give appropriate feedback, and the capacity to make use of information implies the ability to ingest information and respond as expected.

c. Are the characteristics measurable?

The characteristics are measurable. They are useful in realizing the product of carrying out a health procedure or program. The defining attributes have generated the full meaning of the concept.

VI. Consequences

List consequences

According to the author, the consequences of this concept are listed below:

Decreased usage of health services

Increase in the level of knowledge on health

Drop in the costs of health care

Increase in the number of self-reported health status

Shorter hospitalizations

Discuss consequences

Consequences are the outcomes of a successful implementation of the concept of health literacy in the society. When the level of health literacy is successful, meaning it is high alluding to the fact that the immediate and long-term outcomes will be realized.

VII. Cases

Identify cases illustrated in the article.

The author has used three cases; the model cases, the borderline case, and the contrary case. The model case involves an LP, who is an 82-year-old woman, actively engaged in cognitive health literacy. The borderline case involves an MS, who is a 55-year-old African-American male attorney who reads for growth and pleasure, and the contrary case involves BJ, who is a 26-year-old female who studied up to high school but reads at a level of fifth grade (Speros, 2005).

Does the model case list all characteristics of the concept?

The cases are used as additives to supplement and prove the possibility of the concept at hand. They make us better understand the possibility of having fully literate participants no matter the level of education or activity involved. The model case lists all the characteristics in the case.

VIII. Empirical Referents

Empirical referents have been used in the article. They are two. They include the Test of Functional Health Literacy and the Health Literacy component of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. They have been used to bring out the explicitly bring out the existence of the concept. Nurses use the empirical references to make observations of the phenomena to measure magnitudes of health care literacy in certain patients and identify risks segments within the population.