Mastering Health Literacy: Your Guide to Confident Healthcare Navigation

Unlock the secrets to mastering personal health literacy and transform your understanding of healthcare. Join Antoine and Bry as they share personal revelations about the myths of youthful invincibility and the vital importance of health literacy at any stage of life. Together, they'll guide you through the essentials of managing your health, interpreting complex health information, and navigating the often perplexing healthcare system. By focusing on understanding chronic conditions, prescription instructions, and effective communication with healthcare providers, this episode promises to empower you to make informed health decisions like never before.

Confronting the challenges of health literacy, Antoine and Bry tackle the confusion caused by medical jargon, insurance intricacies, and cultural barriers head-on. They offer practical advice on overcoming these hurdles, from clear communication with doctors to the importance of asking questions and preparing for medical appointments with credible research. Listen in for an enlightening discussion that equips you with the tools to overcome obstacles and enhance your personal health literacy, ensuring a proactive and informed health journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding Personal Health Literacy
• 6:15 Navigating Personal Health Literacy Challenges

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Journey Out podcast, where we are designed to be the helping hand for everyday people who are on their Exodus journey. So I am your host, Brie, and we have Antoine, the amazing Antoine, the amazing father. This month is Health Literacy Month, October is Health Literacy Month, and so we want to dive into a series concerning health literacy, what it is and why it matters. So let's jump on in. What is home care? How do I navigate health care?

Speaker 2: 0:30

What do I do when I feel down and depressed?

Speaker 1: 0:33

I'm stressed Am I enough? What can I do? What is this going to cost? So let me define a little bit about what health literacy is. So I'm going to use my handy dandy notepad I have in front of me.

Speaker 1: 0:44

So personal health literacy is how well a person can find, understand and use information and services to make decisions about their own health and the health of others. Now there is another definition for organizational health literacy, and it is how well organizations equitably help all people find, understand and use information and services to make decisions about their own health and others. So today we're not going to worry about organizational health literacy, we're just going to focus on the personal health literacy part of this. And so the importance of personal health literacy is really the person's ability to manage their health, prevent illnesses and then also engage with health care providers. And so, from that definition and from kind of where we stand, I know right now we're health care professionals, you know, and we don't know everything, but we've been in the field a very long time. And so, before we got to this point, what would you say your health literacy score would be like on a scale of one to ten?

Speaker 2: 1:41

On a scale of one to ten, I say my literacy score will be a 0.

Speaker 1: 1:47

Oh, so we're breaking the scale, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Well, the reason why it's a 0 is simply because, hey, being young, growing up, you think you're going to live forever, right?

Speaker 1: 1:56

Right.

Speaker 2: 1:57

You really weren't going to the doctor, right, right. And if you did, it was hey, I broke my arm or I need a stitch. They fix it Right, but understand it long term. So I'm going to say zero.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Zero. Okay, for me, I would probably have to second that I'm going to say zero, and it's really similar to you. I think for me is I'll worry about that when it's time. Right, that's what it feels like Like when I'm 40, 50, 60, I'll worry about those conditions and things like that when I get to there, but that's not the case. I think we should always focus on our health and who we are right now, in this moment, because when I'm 40, 50, and 60, it's just that much easier to make informed decisions about our health.

Speaker 2: 2:40

Right. Well, maybe if I would have knew about this earlier, I probably would have kept some of my teeth. Yeah, you probably would have, you probably would have, for sure.

Speaker 1: 3:00

So let's dive a little bit deeper into understanding personal health literacy, pretty much giving, trying to get the crux of it right. So, when trying to really understand personal health literacy, we want to make sure that we're focusing on three things One, managing your health. Two, interpreting health information, and then three would be how to navigate the healthcare system. So, I guess, with managing your health, so the first thing is you want to make sure that we're understanding and making informed health decisions pertaining to like our lifestyles. Maybe it's managing chronic conditions or even seeking preventative care for those chronic conditions.

Speaker 2: 3:32

And so when I'm saying chronic, and when you're saying chronic conditions, also being proactive, right In those chronic conditions, meaning, like understanding the prescription, drug instructions, right, the prescription that the doctor prescribed to you, understanding those type of things, and that's being proactive.

Speaker 1: 3:46

In your health. Yeah, so you definitely want to be proactive because, say, for instance, those chronic conditions, so we have, like diabetes, heart disease, copd those are different chronic conditions that we see a lot of our families or a lot of people that we deal with on a day-to-day basis, that they're dealing with. Okay, so being-.

Speaker 2: 4:02

And with that we lack understanding, we lack understanding of those diseases.

Speaker 1: 4:05

So if you have, if you understand health literacy or have health literacy, you understand. Okay, what am I going to do when, with these symptoms? Oh, I can I understand what's going on with me. How do I, how can I treat this? Or if my doctor is giving me insulin, okay, this insulin is to do what?

Speaker 2: 4:25

or this is supposed to you know me this. So that's kind of what, where we and a part of being proactive is, that is, understanding, uh, the directions and the consent forms effectively from the doctor, right? So when you speak to that doctor, that doctor give you a diagnosis. Hey, you want to understand what that is. Don't be afraid to ask questions about that, right, right?

Speaker 1: 4:39

right, right. And so, moving into, like the second point of really what the crux of health literacy is, is one being able to understand, read, comprehend, evaluate all health content that is being brought to you. So, like you were just saying, those consent forms, right, being able to understand brochures or any of the health information they're giving you. You're able to understand and read those and evaluate what's needed health information that they're giving you. You're able to understand and read those and evaluate what's needed. And then, lastly, navigating the healthcare system, which is really funny.

Speaker 1: 5:09

We're in the healthcare field and we still have a very hard time navigating the healthcare system, because it is a vast system and it's so many intricacies and there's different people with different hands and things, and so it's just really being able to find and access the information that's needed for your health, and so that's super important to able to find and access the information that's needed for your health, and so that's super important to make sure that we're doing so. Now I want to pose to you a question. So what are some of the biggest barriers, you see, preventing people from improving their personal health literacy?

Speaker 2: 5:40

Limited education and knowledge. Okay, All right, and that can be something of like some people struggle. They struggle with understanding the basic concepts of like nutrition, exercises and disease prevention.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Yeah, that's you know what? I never thought about that like that, you know, because even we, from kind of what you were saying earlier, right, we're young, we'll be able to you kind of think the doctor is going to just point you in the right direction and it's just going to be great, you know, we're just going to, they're going to say it is what it is and that's what I should do, but really understanding and having that knowledge behind it is super important. So I love that.

Speaker 2: 6:15

Because if you don't understand it and the doctor points you in the right direction, yeah, take two of these a day and you'll feel better. But what is the long-term effect of that, right? What do you do after that, right? How can you do more than other than taking two of these a day?

Speaker 1: 6:30

Right.

Speaker 2: 6:30

Two pills a day to make me feel better.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Right, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 6:33

How can you, I guess, look out for yourself long-term?

Speaker 1: 6:36

I love it. Okay, perfect, so one of the ones I would say that is pretty big would be probably complexity of health information, Because a lot of times or not a lot of times, it's just fact Medical words are confusing. Very confusing, they're huge and they take forever to spell.

Speaker 2: 6:54

And I went to school and I stayed on, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1: 6:59

So it's super confusing. And so if the doctor doesn't break down what they're saying in a way that makes sense to the patient, it's not going to make it any easier. We're actually going to cause confusion later going into a quality of care breakdown, a quality care failure, and so it's super important that we understand what the doctor is saying and what they're informing us to do, so that way we can make those informed decisions. What are some other barriers you can?

Speaker 2: 7:24

Many may not know how to access health care services. Right True Like insurance. Right True, medicare Medicaid.

Speaker 1: 7:33

Right.

Speaker 2: 7:33

Personal insurance right, right. Many people don't know that market right, so they probably won't know where to go. So I guess for a long-term effect of being healthy and having literacy about you need to know what insurances out there that can help you cover some of the costs.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Okay, and to piggyback off that, knowing what insurances are out there too, but what about the people who have financial constraints? They can't even access insurance right and so, and then the people.

Speaker 2: 8:03

So let the give them, if you can. I know this kind of script. Can you give them a little example of what that would look like?

Speaker 1: 8:10

Okay, so maybe you're in a more rural area, right? So maybe you're in an undeserved geographical area. It's hard to make anything happen or any health decisions when the health care is probably not even in your area, you know. So it's super, super important that everybody has access to health care, and that kind of stems more from the organizational health literacy side, and so we're going to talk more about that. You know, come the next episode. But it's super important for even the people in the rural areas or the underserved geographical areas to be able to access that information, because most times they don't have insurance. And if you don't have insurance, how can you get the medication that you need or how can you get the treatments that you need, those different things.

Speaker 2: 8:54

Well, let's go to a bigger problem. When you talk about the rural area, we go back, like we talked in the first part, about the lack of education, lack of knowledge, right, and this is really put on people of color, just to be honest with you, from generation to generation, right? Hey, what do I know about health literacy, right? What do I know about insurance? I learned it from my parents, right? But if they don't know or understand, that's the only understanding I have. Well, what little they may know.

Speaker 2: 9:28

Right. So this is this. We can go many different ways in this, but yeah. Wow, this is very important.

Speaker 1: 9:34

OK, so that another barrier similar to what you've just brought up Cultural barriers. Yes, that's a cultural barrier. You know when, when you come from from different backgrounds, not every background is the same, no, not everyone has the same access to health care, and all the way around. So that's super important. So another important topic that you brought up, and then just a common one language barriers. If you don't speak the local language fluently, you're not going to understand nothing your doctor is saying, and so it's important to educate yourself about. So say, for instance, if I spoke French, which I do not, I do not speak French, I wish I did. It's a beautiful language. But say, for instance, I spoke French, my goal and I'll talk about this more about Google, you know, but I'm Googling a French doctor, french speaking doctor near me because those different things impact your level of care, impact the quality of your care.

Speaker 2: 10:29

So let's let you say speaking French Listen, you speak English. I think to be proactive, let's go back to the first one. Hey, you know Googling is fine. Hey, just if you're in there, doctor's visit, and the doctor's talking about something that you don't understand, stop Ask questions about that. Right, right, stop and ask questions about that. Get more information. Do not leave until you're comfortable with the understanding that the doctor is giving you Right, and so I guess that leads me into my next question.

Speaker 1: 11:01

My next question would be how do you believe people can improve their personal health literacy? And I think you just hit one on the head right there all the way.

Speaker 2: 11:10

Right, so yes, so, first of all, going to the doctor's office, being prepared right. Be prepared for your doctor's appointments like knowing your diagnosis, having notes from previous doctor's appointments and doing a little research on your own right, so when you come into the doctor's appointment, you can ask questions and get the answers that you need to help you.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I would say one of the other things you can do, since we talked about Google right, use credible sources for your health information, right? So Google is truly not your friend.

Speaker 2: 11:46

Google is not the doctor.

Speaker 1: 11:49

It's not Go to your doctor first.

Speaker 2: 11:51

Google is not the doctor. It's not Go to your doctor first. Google is not the doctor, but Google can help when you need some information about something and if you have questions that you have found Now, listen, I know, mama, I love you, but my mother will Google everything and she will go with that and she will say, hey, google said it. That's what it is. It's fine, but please talk to your doctor.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Yes, talk to your doctor first and then, once you talk to your doctor, right? This is where Google comes into play, because now we're going to be using web platforms that can help with this. So we're talking about the CDC, the World Health Organization, medlineplus those type of websites that are geared to provide accurate information. It's up to date, it's research based. You're getting information that is more relevant and prevalent to this where we are right now, and so we're not just Googling a random thing and getting somebody's opinion on Wikipedia.

Speaker 2: 12:47

You can Google and get some information from 1969.

Speaker 1: 12:50

And it's not going to help you in 2024. I mean, maybe it will, but talk to your doctor.

Speaker 1: 12:57

And then, besides, like the web, we have apps. So a lot of doctor's offices are doing things like MyChart. Right, that's how you stay on top, like when you're talking about being proactive self-advocacy. That's how you be on top of your medical and health information you get on your MyChart. You're looking at those notes you were talking about those progress notes, going back and preparing yourself for your important appointments. But also, like WebMD, they give general information. There's an app for that. It gives general information about any of the health topics that you want, conveniently at your fingertips, and again, it's credible and reliable information. And then, lastly, I would say probably books could go along with. You know that credible source for health information. Books are a wealth of knowledge, and so I'm a reader. I know, pops, you're not too much a reader.

Speaker 2: 13:42

I'm getting there, I'm getting there.

Speaker 1: 13:44

But I'm a reader, I love books, and so one of the big things for me and I love a great book recommendation. And so if there's something that I'm going through, for me and I love a great book recommendation, and so if there's something that I'm going through and say, for instance, I'm going through diabetes, if I go and ask my doctor, hey, because I know I love books and I love reading, hey, is there a book that you would recommend on this disease to help me further understand what I'm going through or help me further?

Speaker 2: 14:04

you know that's super important because he can point you in a direction that you need to go.

Speaker 1: 14:10

Exactly, and so that's what's important. You have another tip. You think that could.

Speaker 2: 14:15

No, I think you did good on that.

Speaker 1: 14:16

Oh, okay. Well then I'll add this I think it is super important to develop health related skills. So that's like learning basic medical terminology. So you don't have to be Einstein, you know, I don't need to know all of that, those big words, but the basic things, like terms like hypertension, things that you hear on a day-to-day basis, high cholesterol, the difference between type one, type two, diabetes being able to understand what that is and knowing just what those terms are could really really be beneficial, and I agree, and that don't have to be directed to just one person, because you probably have a family member that's dealing with these type of issues.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2: 14:57

So usually these issues will be hereditary right down the line. So knowing those terms is definitely will be helpful.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Yeah, and then so and again, personal health literacy is about you, but it's also about others, like you just said. So I think for others, take a class. There are classes that are out there. So maybe it's a first-day class that you're taking, maybe it's a CPR class that you're taking. It could be in person, online. I know there is like a plethora of organizations like the American Red Cross that are doing things like those first-day classes and things. But it just really it just helps you improve, prove, kind of, your health decisions and your decision making, and so just knowing is half the battle.

Speaker 2: 15:44

I mean wow that was good.

Speaker 1: 15:45

That was good. Ok, knowing is half the battle. Ok, I love that. So, yeah, knowing is half the battle and it's what you do with that knowledge. That kind of takes you to the next level. And so, again, I hope, from what we've talked about here, that you kind of understand your health matters yes, the health of your family members matter and really understanding and taking the time one to do the research for yourself. Don't be afraid to get a second opinion. You're not hearing what you're supposed to hear. There should be open communication from your doctors. If it's not an environment where you feel you can communicate openly with your doctor about certain things, please do that.

Speaker 2: 16:24

Please find one that is willing to be open and talk with you. Yes, picking a doctor or provider is a key. It's crucial Someone that you're comfortable with, someone that you feel is taking the time to give you the best information possible, someone that you feel, when you leave out that doctor's office, you have everything you need to get through your day and get through the next steps or whatever's going on in your life.

Speaker 1: 16:49

So I think that'll be a good thing, and that's actually one of the episodes we have for Health Literacy. So you guys, we're jam-packed. How do you find your PCP? How do you know it's the right fit? Listen, we are jam-packed, we got y'all locked and loaded. So that's pretty much a wrap on personal health literacy. Before we end this, there's nothing else you'd like to add, because I mean, you're the king of creative life.

Speaker 2: 17:12

Episode one Did we drop the mic?

Speaker 1: 17:15

Come on, did we drop the mic? Okay, I'll drop the mic. I'll drop the mic. Okay, and that's a wrap on today's episode of the Journey Out. We pray that the things discussed today have been a helping hand for you and the ones you hold close positively bringing you out of one season to the next, starting your Exodus journey, and let me say this Hopefully this information also helped you become a resource.

Speaker 2: 17:36

Remember, you are the resource now to your family. You are the resource now to your community, so hopefully this helps.

Speaker 1: 17:42

Awesome. Thank you, guys. See you on the next episode. Bye-bye.