Health Promotion and Literacy

I had never heard of the Triple Aim before our lecture yesterday. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has this initiative to support and promote a better healthcare system. It includes improving the patient experience and quality of care, improving the health of populations and reducing the per capita cost of health care. These are the main focuses of the initiative and I think it is a good way to shed light on an area that desperately needs improvement.

Watching the video yesterday where patients discussed with their medical professionals that they couldn't read and didn't know how to take the medicine and didn't know what they were taking really hit home with me, and in more than one way. I was a member of Pi Beta Phi throughout undergrad and our focus was literacy and promoting it in areas that were filling behind in it. I got to see first hand in our community where children and adults could not read at a high level. Also, I am from a rural town. A lot of the people in my town are just like the patients who were interviewed throughout that video; many of them read on an elementary level and do not understand the medical terms they are told day in and day out. The lady who said she didn't realize that she was signing papers to get a histerectomy broke my heart. I really do not understand how medical professionals didn't speak with her and talk to her about this before the surgery. It is just an eye opening video that shows how we as medical professionals have to be very adamant about making our clients feel comfortable with us that they can let us know when they do not understand anything or are confused. We have to prevent things like that from happening.