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Health literacy: the newest vital sign.

Publication: MedSurg Nursing
Publication Date: 01-OCT-08 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: Health literacy: the newest vital sign.(from Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses)

Article Excerpt
A woman recently came into an urgent care clinic because the antibiotics did not seem to be helping her child's ear infection. After some questioning, it was discovered that the oral antibiotic had been instilled in the painful ear. In another instance, the patient did not know to remove the wrapper from a suppository before inserting it. Another patient asked if a year was too long to wait for her MRI results and she was unsure if the flares in her spinal cord were good or bad. These are all examples of outcomes related to low health literacy. Health literacy is defined as "the ability of patients to obtain, process, and understand the basic information and services needed to make appropriate decisions regarding their health" (Joint Commission, 2008).

According to Clancy (2008), almost 90 million Americans have basic or below-basic health literacy skills. Low health literacy is more likely to occur in...

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