Health Literacy Paper

and information by health practitioners and professionals to facilitate a better understanding and application of consumer health information (Postal, 2013). Increased online health information and medical services has also presented challenges to users and consumers of such information. It has contributed to limited literacy skills as far as internet usage in concerned. Some consumers of health information find the internet as overwhelming and sometimes inaccessible. Turning to a user centered design can assist in improving the quality and safety of health care and promoting health equity. It is important to consider the portion of non-web consumers of health information. This calls for the need for establishing effective health communication
Health literacy refers to the extent to which individuals enjoy the capacity to acquire, process and comprehend basic health care information and services which, are vital in ensuring informed decisions making in ahealth setting. Limited health literacy is bad news for the healthcare sector (Postal, 2013). This problem is widely encountered regardless of the people’s ages, races, income levels and levels of education. However, the issue of limited health literacy seems to mainly affect minority groups and individuals falling under the lower socioeconomic status. A major concern that emerges with limited health literacy is that it disrupts the ability to acquire and use health information, embrace healthy conducts and address public health issues. Limited health literacy is a serious issue as it also leads to higher health costs and poor health outcomes (Taylor,
Recently conducted research shows that limited health literacy impacts the usage of preventive services, management of chronic diseases and self-management negatively. This issue has a tendency of increasing the rate of hospitalization. It has also contributed to the misinterpretation of instructions concerning prescribing medication for patients. Psychological costs arise from limited health literacy; this is considering that some adults tend to hide their problem with health literacy for fear of getting ashamed. This implies health care providers cannot identify such patients. According to economic studies, individuals suffering from limited health literacy incur higher medical costs and tend to apply an inefficient combination of medical services (In Nelson, 2013). Other indirect costs resulting from this issue include: disability, poor quality of life,