NURS 3110 Week 5 Assignment – Health Literacy – Evaluation of Patient Forms/Educational Materials
In today’s health care, there are an endless amount of forms and documents that we use to educate, provide consent, etc. All patients have different literacy levels, and many with low literacy levels. The CDC (2010) states, “Communicating a broad range of health messages to a wide variety of audiences can be challenging.” This is something that we must take into consideration when using forms or documents. Eadie (2014) states, “When a patient has difficulty understanding health care information or is unable to effectively communicate issues to the health care provider, patient safety is compromised.” The form that I selected is called the alcohol brief intervention form. Working on a psychiatric unit, I see many patients who have a dual diagnosis of a mental illness along with a type of substance abuse. On admission, we screen patients with what is called an AUDIT tool which calculates a patient’s risk for alcoholism and withdrawal symptoms. If a patient scores eight or above, we provide alcohol brief intervention education by using this form. This form was chosen because it is one of the most basic educational handouts that our unit provides. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you.
Review of a Document
The intended age for this document is for adults who are 18 years and older. The document can be relatable to men and women who are at risk or already diagnosed with Alcoholism. The reading level is about 6th to 8th-grade reading level. If a patient does not read at this level and is having difficulty comprehending, nurses and therapists are always happy to educate the patient and put the information into words that are more understandable. This form is, overall, relatively easy to understand as long as you have the appropriate reading level or higher. The form is direct and presents vital information.
Summary and Suggested Revision
The alcohol brief intervention form is educational and hits the highlights. It is a short, two-page form with enlarged font. When it comes to message content, the messages per section are minimal, the main points are stated at the beginning and the end of the form, and any actions that the patients are encouraged to take are well-identified. The text’s appearance is suitable, with appropriate margins. Titles of sections are in a larger font or bolded. Patient resources are bolded as well. The layout is in logical order, and the wording is relatively easy to understand. This form can be printed in Spanish, and our hospital does have interpretation services to educate or to go over a person who speaks a different language. The wording is generic enough for all cultures and ethnicities. The form has been used on a wide variety of educational backgrounds and is always gone over by a nurse or therapist.
NURS 3110 Week 5 Assignment – Health Literacy – Evaluation of Patient Forms/Educational Materials
Visual aids are what this form lack. The form does not have a single visual aid that can catch the attention of the patient. If you were to add at least one picture or simple graph, I think this would engage the patient more. Pictures are what catch anyone’s attention first over just looking at almost two pages of words.
Conclusion
It is important that all patients receive appropriate education about their illnesses, medications, consents, etc. We must utilize materials that are easy to understand regardless of education level. Liebner (2015) states, “Patients who do not comprehend the information presented are more likely to be noncompliant or to guess about what they do not understand, with potentially harmful results to their health.” The alcohol brief intervention form is easy to understand and easy to educate patients with. It is easily interpreted. The appearance and layout do not look overwhelming. The form could, however, be improved with visual aids. Although we have all these different forms and documents, we must always be sure that the patient understands the information being explained, even if we have to utilize teach-back initiatives where the patient recaps the education given. Knowledge is power, and our patients need to feel empowered about their health care regardless of education level.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Simply put: A guide for creating easy-to-understand materials (3rd ed.), Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/pdf/simply_put.pdf Checklist for easy-to-understand print materials [Word document]. (n.d.). Eadie, C. (2014). Health literacy: A conceptual review. MEDSURG Nursing, 23(1), 1.
Liebner, L. T. (2015) I can’t read that! Improving perioperative literacy for ambulatory surgical patients. AORN Journal, 101(4), 418
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Question 
NURS 3110 Week 5 Assignment – Health Literacy – Evaluation of Patient Forms/Educational Materials
Locate a patient-related document that is related to patients in your practice area or an area in which you are familiar. This document could be admission paperwork, health education materials, or other materials that are provided to a patient to inform them about health care decisions.