Importance of healthcare literature (2)

Importance of Healthcare Literature Healthcare reading is a skill that has been emphasized more lately. You might remember your grandparents emphasizing to read even beyond what you study. Reading specifically on healthcare topics can have a significant role in your life. Healthcare reading can help increase your knowledge and vocabulary on healthcare issues and terms that can help improve your overall wellbeing.

Let us look at the contribution of reading in effective health care: 

Reading improves your memory

According to recent research, reading can be important in improving your memory. Reading is believed to work in different parts of your brain compared to listening and watching. People who read are known to have complex brains. Apart from improving your memory on health issues, reading can also help prevent dementia. Exercising your brain through reading can slow the rate of decline in memory since it stimulates your brain. 

Reading helps reduce stress

After a hard work day, you are likely to feel tired and stressed. According to a recent study, reading for about 6 minutes can help reduce stress about 68%. Healthcare reading is also known to impact your ability to reduce stress. Knowledge acquired through reading healthcare information can help put you at ease since it gives the ability to prevent major health conditions and treat them without visiting a healthcare facility. 

Healthcare reading is therapeutic

Healthcare reading is not necessarily for one to enjoy but to gain knowledge of health conditions, their preventive measures, and remedies or treatment. Revisiting health information which you are familiar with cannot only offer therapeutic benefits but also gives you an opportunity for self-reflection. 

Improves brain function and attention

Healthcare reading cannot only impact your memory. But it can also enhance brain connectivity, improving brain function. Studies show that reading healthcare information such as disease prevention can help one use imagination to improve self-care. 

Improves overall wellbeing

Reading can help keep you young. Just like other mental stimulating activities, healthcare reading improves the connections between nerve cells, preventing wrinkle formation. Adequate health literacy through reading can also impact one’s health since one has the ability to read health information such as drug prescription, disease prevention, and curative measures.

Low literacy cost in the healthcare industry Lack of literacy skills or low literacy can pose a great challenge for anyone in everyday life. Let’s get a good example in a healthcare environment, where you discharge a low literacy patient from hospital with stacks of paper. The patient may be unable to read a prescription, leading to under dose or overdose of drugs.

Being able to read and interpret health information is important for every individual because, at some point in their lives, they all need to be able to find, understand, and also use health information and services. Taking care of your health is a part of your everyday life, not just when you visit your primary care physician, a hospital, or clinic. Being able to read healthcare information can therefore help you prevent healthcare problems and also protect our health. With health literacy, we can therefore manage healthcare problems and unexpected situations.

People who can read well may, too, find it uncomfortable reading healthcare information. These people can face health literacy issues when:     

They experience healthcare conditions that need complicated self-care They are not familiar with how their body works They are not familiar with medical terms They need to interpret health statistics and evaluate benefits and risks that affect their safety and health They are tested positive for serious illnesses and are confused and scared

Effects of Low Literacy in healthcare Industry Health literacy is defined as the ability of one to seek medical care, understand, and use health information and take advantage of preventive measures. In general, health literacy is the ability to acquire process and understand health data or information needed to make perfect healthcare decisions.

With the healthcare industry or system being so complex, you will find that low literacy can lead to poor health and high cost of care. Below are ways in which low literacy cost healthcare industry: 1. Inability to use preventive services According to health statistics, people with low literacy skills are more likely to skip important preventive services such as MRI, mammograms, flu shots and pap smears when compared to those with adequate literacy. Recent studies show that people with low literacy only enter the healthcare system when they are seriously sick.

2. Increase in rate of hospitalization

Low health literacy is usually associated with an increase in hospital admissions and preventable hospital visits. Health statistics have demonstrated a high use of emergency services and higher rate of hospitalization among people with low literacy.

3. Low knowledge about medical conditions Studies show that people with low literacy are more likely to have chronic medical conditions and are less able to care for them effectively. Studies also show that low literacy patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, and HIV/AIDS have little knowledge about their illness and its management.

4. High healthcare cost People with low literacy mainly use services designed to treat health conditions more than those services designed for prevention of the health conditions. Higher healthcare costs among patients with low health literacy are as a result of higher use of emergency services and higher rate of hospitalization.

5. How health status Recent studies demonstrate that people with low literacy are significantly less likely to report their health as poor compared to those with adequate literacy.

6. Shame and stigma Low literacy can also lead to negative psychological effects. A recent study has shown that people with low literacy have a sense of shame about their skill level. It becomes difficult to maintain their dignity since they hide their reading skills.

The Bottom Line Primary responsibility for improving healthcare reading lies with public health systems and public healthcare professionals. They should work tirelessly to ensure that health information and services are understood and used by patients. These parties should engage in literacy skill-building through improving and enhancing healthcare reading.