Introduction The modernization and reorganization of the health care information, health communication processes and HIT infrastructure is crucial in the enhancement of public health outcomes and health outcomes of individuals. The society today has become connected to the extent that there are various sources and platforms capable of generating electronic healthcare information (Taylor, 2015). This is serves a significant part in informing the health goals and decisions made. The information sources today go beyond the traditional health care setting such that the establish a more expansive and consistent pool of outstanding information. An essential electronic health information is necessary in order to unlock the full potential of the available …show more content…
This is vital in achieving accurate, actionable and reliable clinical measurements across healthcare systems and settings. Data elements should be used consistently such that health information can be collected once and reused again for various purposes. Such purposes include: measurement of outcomes, practicing level improvements, monitoring, public health, research and decision support. This shows the importance of having efficient health communication strategies in place to facilitate individuals accessing the right information at the appropriate time. This leads to improved decision making hence, better health quality can be achieved as well as the outcomes of health care …show more content…
Achieving health literacy is an essential step towards action, considering action as being our ultimate goal. Health communication strategies fall in a complex social environment; hence it is important to rely on an integrated strategy whereby health communication is an essential aspect of overall strategic planning. Of equal importance is the application of various approaches and communication processes to reflect the way people feel about health and ailments and how they make decisions in their routine lives. Improvement of health literacy is vital but it will need the interplay of other factors and never losing track of the obligation to behavioral and social outcomes. According to the Healthy People 2020, various measures through which positive results can be obtained from effective health communication strategies. Some of which relate with the effective health communication processes. These include, building social support networks, provision of new openings to link culturally diverse and marginalized populations, provision of sound policies in designing programs and intercessions that lead to healthier behaviors and outcomes (In Nelson & In Staggers,
Friedman, D. J., Parrish, G., & Ross, D. A. (2013). Electronic Health Records and US Public Health: Current Realities and Future Promise. American Journal of Public Health, 103(9), 1560-1567
Introduction “Health informatics is the science that underlies the academic investigation and practical application of computing and communications technology to healthcare, health education and biomedical research” (UofV, 2012). This broad area of inquiry incorporates the design and optimization of information systems that support clinical practice, public health and research; understanding and optimizing the way in which biomedical data and information systems are used for decision-making; and using communications and computing technology to better educate healthcare providers, researchers and consumers. Although there are many benefits of bringing in electronic health systems there are glaring issues that associate with these systems. The
Throughout the years, the ability to survive in the American economy without a college education has been diminishing. The employment opportunities now available to many Americans without college degrees are called “unskilled” jobs. These forms of employment are often unstable and offer low pay without much of a change for advancement within the company . Low income families are often constrained by many hurdles that do not allow them to raise themselves from below the poverty line . Many misconceptions come to light when talking about those American families below the poverty line, of those misconceptions are highlighted by statements such as that they do not work, work enough, or that they take advantage of public assistance that they do not need. In Nickel and Dimed on (Not) Getting by In America, Ehrenreich lives as a low wage worker and reveals the truth about the working poor.
Savel, R. H., & Munro, C. L. (2013, November). Promise and pitfalls of the electronic health
Unfortunately, the quality of health care in America is flawed. Information technology (IT) offers the potential to address the industry’s most pressing dilemmas: care fragmentation, medical errors, and rising costs. The leading example of this is the electronic health record (EHR). An EHR, as explained by HealthIT.gov (n.d.), is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. It includes, but is not limited to, medical history, diagnoses, medications, and treatment plans. The EHR, then, serves as a resource that aids clinicians in decision-making by providing comprehensive patient information.
Health care information system (HCIS) is an arrangement of information (data), processes, people, and information technology that interact to collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to support the health care organization (Wager, Lee, Glaser, 2013, p. 105). Having ready access to timely, complete, accurate, legible, and relevant information is critical to health care organizations, providers, and the patients they serve (Wagerm Lee, & Glaser, 2013). In the health care industry, the quality of care is one of the most important objectives for most health care organizations. The growing developments in health information technology have a great impact on the delivery of health care and have changed the systems used to record and share information. It has the potential to improve the quality of care if it is appropriately used. Health care organizations routinely apply computers and other technologies to record and transfer health information such as diagnoses, prescriptions, and insurance information.
“Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.” ( United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Healthy People 2020 , 2011). It acts as a national guide for disease prevention and health promotion. There are various objectives and goals which serve as the guideline to achieve overall improvement in health . ‘Educational and Community-Based Programs’ is one of them. According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services the main goal of these programs is to “Increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease and injury, improve health, and enhance quality of life.” (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2011). This particular goal of Healthy People 2020 focuses on increasing the number educational and community based programs to increase awareness about disease prevention and health among every individual of the society. It focuses on educating them on various topics including chronic diseases, substance abuse, prevention of injury and violence to encourage and enhance health. It emphasizes on increasing the quantity and quality of such programs so that a larger population could benefit from the program and gain effective knowledge to achieve a healthy life.
Health information technology must be used as the powerful tool it is to attain the ultimate goal of generating improved healthcare quality and public health outcomes. The NQS outlines objectives and concerns for improving health equality and health care quality the same way. It implies that the quality improvement being enabled through health information technology will support the goals envisioned by the NQS (Taylor, 2015).
If health information technology has been adopted widely, there would be more than $81 billion annually save in the United States only (Gee & Newman, 2013). Despite the vast improvement of health information technology in the current century when compared to the past, there still some challenges in adopting the technology. For example, patients and healthcare providers’ frustration with the current system, and a high cost of the information technology can be mentioned. However, healthcare organizations are thoroughly delivering care, access the patients’ health data, run their analysis for better health outcomes, and gain opportunities to better quality improvement through many electronic health delivery systems (Health information technology, n.d.; Wager, Lee, & Glaser,
All individuals across the world strive to acquire high levels of competence and literacy across all aspects of education. It is human nature to maintain good health, and to educate ourselves on how to sustain prominent, fulfilling lifestyles. In application to health, the first step in achieving adequate health requires one to know where to locate reliable information. Not only is it important to understand what it takes to create health, but also the process of preserving healthy habits at all times. The construct of Health Literacy illustrates this notion entirely—and can be defined as the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions (CDC.gov).
However, health literacy is more than just read and write; it is the ability to understand and able to use health information to make choices about their health (Benyon, 2014). Low health literacy can have detrimental effect on the health of the client because it may cause misunderstand of the medical label or health information. According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), health literacy divided into three different levels which are functional, interactive/communicative and critical health literacy. As for functional levels, it is the most general and fundamental level for the general public because individuals need to receive and understand the information of health such as risk of health decision, consent forms, health instruction or medicine labels. (McMurray & Clendo , 2015) Turning to the next level, interactive/communicative health literacy, mainly involved personal skills to spread health knowledge to the community, and also , people are able to influence social norm and help others individuals to develop their personal health capacity. Because of this, understanding of how organization work and resounding communication skill which can help to support others and knowing how to get different health services other individuals need (McMurray & Clendo , 2015). The third level is critical health literacy, mainly divided to
Many organizations and healthcare institutions are active members in improving quality of care thru health literacy. The Joint Commission’s Public Policy Initiative begun in 2001, work at safe quality health care thru increased health literacy. Healthy People 2010 report presents safety and health literacy as a goal. recent national action focus on removing barriers.7 This is reinforced by provisions in the Affordable Care Act and the Plain Writing Act. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality(AHRQ) published the Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, a self-assessment tool to direct quality increase in health literacy in primary care. The toolkit is built on the rules of the universal precautions, to help guide the healthcare professionals to create health materials understandable to the patients. The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy is a policy document to use to improve health literacy. The policy is founded on two values (1) everyone has the right to health information that helps them make informed decisions and (2) health services should be delivered in ways that are understandable and beneficial to health, longevity, and quality of life (Healthy People 2020). Effective communication is a cornerstone of patient safety (The Joint Commission, 2007, p. 5). Health literacy is a factor in engaging patients in preventive care (The Joint Commission, 2007, p. 28). The Joint Commission’s
Health literacy is defined as "The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions" (Michael K. Paasche-Orlow, 2010), the word Health literacy first appeared in 1974 in a paper which calls for “education standards for all grade school levels in USA” (Carolyn Speros, 2004) . Some recent works suggest that there is a relation between literacy, low health and premature deaths (Christina Zarcadoolas et al, 2005).
There are many actions the health professional can take to help increase their patients’ health literacy. Some steps are simple, easy to complete. Other tasks take the cooperation of multiple departments and people, but are just as important to help improve health literacy. The first step to ...
Health literacy plays an important role in individuals’ decision-making. The scope of health literacy does not limit to traditional medical perspective. In fact, it has extended from the basic understanding of diseases and medications to all aspects that affect health. As one of the key social determinants, health literacy has huge impact on health and well-being. Its influence is associated with disease prevention, healthy lifestyle promotion, policy making, etc. This essay will first discuss the concept of health literacy and the consequences that link to it, and then give a strategy—designing user-centred messages in education, to improve health literacy,