Health information is a prominent thing today and can be found just about everywhere from television, to magazines, to billboards. The internet is a huge resource for health information but is a concern if the reader does not thoroughly understand what they are reading. There are many sites in which individuals give their personal advice or blog about their past experiences. This can be confusing and worrisome when facing a health dilemma, and can be detrimental in the choices a consumer makes regarding his or her health and treatments. “More than 5.5 million Americans search the internet for health topics every single day, and a majority of patients head online as their first source of health- or medication- related information”(Cochrane).
Cochrane blogged, “According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Study, 87% of US adults don’t have the skills they need to manage their health and prevent disease.”; however, a fellow blogger refuted the accuracy of this number. Whatever the “real” percentage is, health literacy is a subject that all healthcare professionals and consumer should be concerned with and be willing to band together to improve the health outcomes in our country.
Cochrane, Zara Risoldi. “Health Literacy: Are you smarter than a web page?”. 09 March 2011. Discover. 09 March 2011. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/03/09/health-literacy-are-you-smarter-than-a-web-page/
Ashley I have enjoyed reading your blogs this session. I cannot tell if we actually disagree or not, but I would like to give you my perspective on healthcare, and the information that is available concerning our health. I completely disagree with Cochrane. Instead of trying to get the medical community to “dumb-down,” the health information provided on the internet for our less than educated public, maybe we should focus on allowing more of us to have better relationships with our physicians. When I need legal advice, I go to an attorney. When I need auto advice, I go to a mechanic. When my toilet doesn’t flush, I call a plumber. I do not complain about the lack of information in these areas being provided at the fifth grade level. This article would make the “funny page,” in South Korea.
ReplyDeleteThe real issue is the affordable access to medical care and advice. I believe the only way this can be accomplished is by bringing down the cost of healthcare. This can be accomplished in two simple steps. The first is Tort Reform. This would limit the amount of funds that could be awarded for medical malpractice. More importantly, it would eliminate a mass quantity of bogus lawsuits filed every year, driving up the cost of healthcare. The Second would be to allow health insurance companies to compete across state lines. Allowing all of the insurance companies to compete with each other, would certainly cut into their gross profits. Government run healthcare is definitely not the answer. I cannot think of one successfully run government program. Social Security is broke, Medicare is overrun with fraud, and they even struggle with delivering the mail. Yet, we feel comfortable turning the lives of our children over to them, I don’t. I do not think we need more fifth grade level health information. I think we need to focus on the real issues.