This paper examines the relationship between health literacy and patient safety through both educational content on water contamination and a direct care experience. The first section outlines environmental health risks to children, particularly from contaminated water sources, and describes preventive measures families can implement. The second section reflects on a teaching interaction with a bilingual Spanish-speaking parent newly relocated from Puerto Rico, demonstrating how effective communication, cultural awareness, and parent health literacy enable families to take informed action to protect their children's health and support environmental sustainability in healthcare systems.
Numerous environmental factors are likely to affect children's health. This section focuses on providing basic information about how contaminated or polluted water can affect children's health and how caregivers and parents can protect them. Children often consume more water than adults, and their immune systems are still in the process of developing. These biological factors make children particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases transmitted through contaminated water.
Children can acquire serious infectious diseases through contaminated water. Some of these diseases include Paratyphoid Fever, Cholera, Typhoid, Malaria, Amoebiasis, and Dysentery. For this reason, it is extremely important for parents to ensure that their water supply is safe. Exposure to or consumption of methyl mercury from contaminated drinking water can damage the nervous system of a child. Based on these risks, families must always be cautious of and adhere to water consumption advisories. Beach and swim advisories must be issued and adhered to protect children's health.
If using a private water system, families must ensure the water is regularly tested and implement measures to prevent contamination of their supply. Those receiving water from a public system must understand the source of that water and its treatment process. Public water systems are required to plan and share water quality reports annually. Parents and caregivers must dedicate time to read these reports and raise any concerns with local authorities. This active engagement is a critical component of family-centered water safety.
The effective communication and parent literacy regarding health issues placed the parent at a better position to prevent environmental factors from adversely affecting the health of their children. During the teaching interaction, the patient learned about the implications and importance of prevention plans. She also learned that she could access healthcare services, and we encountered no communication problems.
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. Mrs. Brown is bilingual but is more comfortable speaking Spanish. Initially, her cousin assisted her in filling out the forms to register her children in the Medicaid plan. From a cultural perspective, Mrs. Brown did not expect support or an interpreter, though health materials in Spanish are part of the public program. She also demonstrates understanding of the time-sensitive responsibility imposed on parents to re-enroll children annually in their health plans.
Mrs. Brown did not have any difficulty remembering the verbal instructions conveyed during the encounter. Due to her high health literacy, she demonstrated a better ability to recall information. Because of my awareness of how health literacy affects the recall of verbal information, I employed strategies to confirm parent understanding. Health literacy—the ability to obtain, understand, and use health information—directly influences health outcomes.
Mrs. Brown understands the power of knowledge and demonstrated a high degree of motivation to use the information to prevent environmental factors from adversely affecting her children's health. She emphasized that prevention and precaution require action at a wider level. She urged all care providers to ensure that hospitals and medical practices do not add to the burden of environmental damage likely to affect children's health and future generations.
Mrs. Brown is particularly vocal in urging the healthcare system to become less harmful to human health and more environmentally sustainable. Her response reflects not only personal motivation to protect her own children but also advocacy for systemic change. Environmental health encompasses the relationship between human health and the natural and built environment, and her perspective demonstrates how patient education can extend beyond individual behavior to broader health system accountability.
"Effective communication improves patient outcomes"
You’re 79% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 1 section.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.