Health Literacy and Patient Safety
Indirect Care Experience
Numerous environmental factors are likely to affect children's health. This section will focus on providing basic information on how contaminated or polluted water can affect children's health and how caregivers and parents can protect children. Children often take more water compared to adults. In addition, their immune systems are still in the process of developing. Children can acquire infectious disease through contaminated water. Some of these diseases include Paratyphoid Fever, Cholera, Typhoid, Malaria, Amoebiasis and Dysentery. Based on these aspects, it is extremely important for parents to ensure that their water supply is safe. If using a private water system, families must ensure the water is regularly tested. Measures must be adopted to prevent contaminating water supply. For those receiving water from a public system, it is necessary to understand the source of that water and its treatment process. Public water systems must plan and share water quality reports annually. Parents and caregivers must dedicate some time to read the report and raise issues. Exposure to or consumption of methyl mercury from drinking contaminated water can damage the nervous system of a child. Families must always be cautious of and abide by water consumption advisories. Beach and swim advisories must be issued and adhered to protect children's health.
Part II: Direct Care Experience
A summary of the teaching/learning interaction
The effective communication and parent literacy of health issues placed the parent at a better position of preventing environmental factors from adversely affecting the health of their children....
The patient learned about the implications and the importance of prevention plans. She also learned that she could access healthcare services, as we did not encounter any communication problems. Similarly, as the physician, I understood the parent and her cultural context within which she received healthcare information. Drawing from the "Health literacy and patient safety" video, communication, language and cultural literacy led to a mutual understanding of our relationship. I was responsible for creating and sustaining a culture of safety and quality. Among the critical systems for which I provided stewardship for was communication.
Demographical information
I interviewed Mrs. Brown, a 33-year-old graduate who recently moved to New York from Puerto Rico with her husband and three young children. She holds a degree in Accounting from Oxford University. Mrs. Brown is bilingual. However, she is more comfortable speaking Spanish. Initially, her cousin assisted her fill the forms to register her children in the Medicaid plan. From a cultural perspective, Mrs. Brown does not expect any support or an interpreter to link her with health information through health materials in Spanish language are also part of the public program. Mrs. Brown also understands the time-sensitive responsibility imposed upon parents and caregivers to re-enroll children annually.
Description of parent response to teaching
Mrs. Brown understands the power of knowledge. She demonstrated a high degree of motivation to use the information to prevent environmental factors from adversely affecting the health of their children. She said that prevention and precaution required action at a wider level.…
