Health Literacy in Australia
Health literacy was thought as “the amount to which people have the capacity to acquire, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (IOM, 2004, p. 32). Inotherwords, it’s the person’s ability obtain and understand medical care information and make decisions based on those information whilst following those instructions during the treatment process. Health literacy can contextual where demands are made as well as skill which is brought after by the participating celebrations according to the situation ((Rudd, Moeykens, & Colton, 1999). Based on the statistics almost 50 percent of the individual admitted they are not familiar to basic information about health care. An effective treatment can be associated with be immediately proportional to medical literacy and low level of this might lead with an unsuccessful treatment or the patient being wrongly diagnosed. As health literacy is straight related peoples health, those people who have low degree of health literacy are known to have illness status than those having high level end experience an improved life style respect to their overall health conditions.Health Literacy in Australia A good level of health literacy may allow visitors to make decisions that will allow them to make life changing decisions about their health Each day, people confront situations that entail life-changing decisions about their health. When people can buy, connect, process, and understand health information and services they are able to make decisions about health care. So, health literacy is more than simply reading and having numeracy skills, but also contains elements such as social differences in society and health care provisions. “Limited health literacy” occurs when those included are not able to get and use the info and services. Lack of clear information and its importance, people get into situation that may well not be ideally suitable. Moreover, people with low degree of health literacy are known to have a significant disadvantage to comprehend and execute procedures and prevent healthcare effectively which translates to their health. They may have less or limited understanding about the medications, medical conditions as well as how to self-care.
Health literacy level can be related to demography, overall economy and the way we communicate. It can be roughly grouped in terms old, ethnicity, age and terminology. Among these categories individuals who have English as the second language seems to be the most damaged with the reduced degree of health literacy. As, we know that people replies to illness behaviours are culturally driven ( Smylie, Williams, & Cooper, 2006). In Australia there exists a large range of migrant people and a huge part of that comes from non-English speaking countries or who have English as a second language. They are further exaggerated their social barriers and economical challenges for being able to access the services Since it is exceptional to a obtain and access information about major health care other than British which sometimes may be a cause of major matter as migrant people may well not have the adequate level English to learn the effects and methods necessary for the desired benefits. Migrant people are found to be affected by medical inequalities which are dependant on the public determinants such where they were born, raised, work and their age which are shaped through market and resources. In Australia, people from various countries have migrated searching for their dreams as they start trip the majority of them have a humble begging’s and the condition of health literacy occurs for individuals who come as Asian countries and refugees as their origin being truly a non -British speaking as well as for the majority of them have as yet not known at all but when they commence their life in Australia this is a different story as they have to produce terms to know the terms and access information in the language they have never known or gain access to with makes their starting an extremely very hard.Health Literacy in Australia
Migrant people come to Australia with limited English speaking abilities that can be a serious issue. A good health care needs patients and medical professionals to discuss the problem and how to handle those issues. Studies show that communication is the major factor in creating misunderstanding in patient health conditions as well as being wrongly diagnosed which may cause a major problem towards the final outcome on the overall patient health. Another issue regarding the health literacy and is also the delaying in seeking healthcare for themselves and their children. They may have admitted that language as the major hurdle in health care as they find difficult to explain the situation and understand the sophisticated and sensitive health issues.
As we now have established that the issues in healthcare is due to the failure to gain access to, process and understand information about their health insurance and the process. These problems are more significant in migrant individuals and people with low income which grows a level of inequality. Now, it is up to the clinicians to attempt to slim this inequality and boost the overall health of the people whilst increasing their health literacy.Health Literacy in Australia Doctors need to progressive approaches to be able to improve health literacy. They may choose to use evidence founded strategies which addresses health literacy that can include interventions which is simplifying and bettering information, using video or other targeted methods to patient education, and improving patient-provider communication. They may adopt a user centered procedure, use a universal precautions strategy or concentrating on and tailoring marketing communications as well as apply organizational changes. Inside a user centered approach health professionals may need to involver people of the prospective group in the design and trials process. They are able to also use proven designs that worked well in the past. Using a widespread precaution approach starts off with an obvious communication and really should be underneath type of every health information exchanges. As we know that doctors have a magic keep which can know what is going on with a particular person merely by looking so they have to use safety measures which holds true regarding health literacy. For this very reason, health workers advocate in using a universal precautions approach to health communication as they, a high quantity of patients will have a problem understanding health information. Parker and Kreps note that even though everyone will never be at the same health literacy level, it is always best to use the clearest terminology possible. Adopting common precautions, health professionals must use clear communication with everyone, no matter their perceived health literacy skills. Having targeted and customized approaches to communication clinician’s screen allows them with self-management and medical benefits with patients having limited literacy. Targeted strategies are adapted whenever we need to meet the needs of specific teams such as people who have limited literacy skills. Tailored programs and communication are based on specific and unique requirements. As the health literacy among the people increases their prospects also increases so nursing homes need to assess their weaknesses and strengths to improve the quality of healthcare.Health Literacy in Australia