Transcript Literacy Volunteers

“What to Do When Your
Child Gets Sick” Training
A Training for Providers Working with
Parents of Young Children
Overview
What is Literacy?
What is Health Literacy?
Why is it important?
What can we do about it?
What is Literacy?
“An individual’s ability to read, write, and
speak in English and compute and solve
problems, at levels of proficiency necessary to
function on the job, in the family of the
individual, and in society.”
1998 Adult Education and Family Literacy Act
Learner’s story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrdHkXgDE0k
What is Literacy?
What are some of the things that you
should be able to do if you are literate?





Use computers
Communicate with a team member on the job
Read a newspaper
Make informed political decisions
Know where to get outside help
Literacy statistics
46
50
1.5
%
Prison inmates who do not have a
high school diploma (NCFL, 2002)
%
Adults on Public Assistance who do
not have a high school diploma or
GED (National Institute for Literacy)
Adults in Wisconsin (nearly 39%)
million that qualify for literacy services
(National Institute for Literacy, 1998)
What does it feel like?
n.” said B y. “W
“Comeo
ets
ehav
r
di cku
eto
eqon’
W
anot
thave
i
pth sc
fqodc
her
orn.”
cano
o n.
What people feel about their limited
reading ability:
• Ashamed, embarrassed
• Less of a person
• Stupid, anxious, angry
• “Something is wrong with me.”
The big secret
Percent of low literate adults who have not told
their:
Children
52%
Friends
62%
Spouse
68%
Health care providers
75%
Co-workers
85%
Identifying “red flags”
•“I forgot my glasses. I’ll read this when I get
home.”
•“Let me bring this home so I can discuss it
with my spouse.”
•“I don’t have time to wait today.”
• “I don’t feel well.”
“Red flags” often misjudged
• Incomplete forms
• Frequently missed
appointments
• Lack of follow-through
What is Health Literacy?
“The degree to which individuals have the
capacity to obtain, process, and understand
basic information and services needed to
make appropriate decisions regarding their
health.”
- Institute of Medicine, 2004
Literacy vs. Health Literacy
•Almost everyone will have difficulty with
Health Literacy at some point.
• Times of stress
• Role of medications
•Much harder for those that do not:
• Read very well; or
• Speak English as their primary language.
2003 National Assessment of Adult
Literacy - Health Literacy
14%
12%
22%
53%
What is “Proficient”? (12%)
Would be able to
calculate an
employee’s share
of health
insurance costs
for a year, using a
table
What is “Intermediate”? (53%)
Would struggle with
being able to determine
what time to take a
prescription medication.
• Time is based on information on
the prescription drug label that
relates the timing of medication
to eating.
What is “Basic”? (22%)
Would struggle with being
able to give two reasons
someone should get
screened for a disease
even if they have no
symptoms
• based on information from a
clearly written pamphlet .
What is “Below Basic”? (14%)
Would not be able to
locate and circle the
date of a medical
appointment on a
hospital
appointment slip
Real people with real problems
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgTuD7l7LG8
The impact on health
• Poorer health knowledge
• Poorer health status
• Higher death rates
• More hospitalizations
• Higher health care costs
Money matters
$106-$238 billion is lost
every year on health care
costs because of poor
communication between
patients and providers.
In Wisconsin: $3.4-7.6
billion is lost annually
Vernon, J. et al, University of Connecticut, Oct.
2007
What can you do?
As a patient, you should:
Ask Questions
“Questions Are the Answer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PudB0uYnFU
“Good Questions for Good Health”
What Is my
main
problem?
Diagnosis
What do I
need to do?
Why is it
important for
me to do this?
Treatment
Context
You can offer a great resource:
“What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick”
Part of a series
Available in:
•
•
•
•
•
English
Spanish
Vietnamese
Korean
Chinese
“What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick”
•Multiple independent studies have shown that giving
parents a copy of the easy to read book, What To Do When
Your Child Gets Sick, and training them how to use it at
home to care for their child's minor ailments and injuries led
to:
• 57-61% reduction in ER Visits
• 39-56% decrease in doctors/clinic visits
• 43-60% fewer missed school days by children due to
illness or injury
• 41-47% less work days missed by parents due to child's
illness
“What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick”
One study that included parents on Medicaid also
showed that the reduced hospital ER visits saved
more than $550 per family annually.
In Wisconsin
• Recent projects with Head Starts and Childcare
Providers in Northwest WI
• 643 parents
• 1090 children
• 71% felt that the book helped them deal
with a health care problem at home instead
of calling a hospital or clinic
• 62% felt that the book helped them deal
with a problem at home instead of going to
the Emergency Room (ER) or Urgent Care
What is in the book?
• The book covers the
management of more than 50
common childhood illnesses,
injuries, and health problems.
• It is written in easy-to-read
language for parents and
caregivers of children from
birth to 8 years of age
What is in the book?
For each condition, the following
questions are answered:
• What is it?
• What do I see?
• What can I do at home?
• When do I call the doctor or nurse?
• What else should I know about it?
Distribution
• Surveys revealed that those who were
introduced to the book and not just handed it,
were more likely to use it.
• What do you do with a book that you are
given?
• Why would you go back to that book?
• What can you do to make it a “Go To”
resource?
After the book has been given to
parents with a short introduction
• After the parents have had a chance to use
the book (2-3 months after distribution),
conduct the survey located online
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WhatToDo
Survey.
Who will answer my questions?
Margarete Cook
[email protected]
Allison Machtan
[email protected]
http: //www.healthliteracywisconsin.org