Nearly one-third of middle-aged Americans struggle with personal health tasks, including recalling information from a doctor’s visit, reading standard health materials, and properly dosing out medication, according to research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Understanding Medication Instructions

The study asked 942 primary care patients with an average age of 52 to complete a series of tasks to test health literacy. The tasks included replicating a doctor visit and reading a fake prescription bottle to see what information they could get from the label and directions.

Just 10 minutes later, it was difficult for people to remember all the specifics of the diagnosis they were given. Problems with prescriptions often came from nuanced language and the variation in labeling practices.

People wanted to get their prescription information right and do the best they could for their health, but fostering health literacy can be difficult when doctors’ visits are short and the information may not be written in a straightforward way.

Medication generally works best when taken as instructed. When you take a prescription, if you take it with food, how often, and even what it is for can get lost in communication, particularly when patients don’t feel comfortable asking their healthcare providers questions.

Improving Health Literacy

To improve health literacy, patients can ask their doctors and pharmacists open-ended questions, such as, “What do I need to know about this medication?” Keeping a list of medications and bringing a voice recorder to appointments can also be helpful.

Visits to a doctor can be quick, but patients can slow their healthcare provider down if they need to, so they can more clearly explain diagnoses and treatments.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.