Health Literacy PowerPoint

Health is wealth:

Health literacy is defined by the Institute of Medicine 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."

In one study, the rate of death in illiterate heart patients was 17.6% versus 6.3% for patients with adequate health literacy. (JAMA. 2011;305(16):1695-1701. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.512)

The learning goals for this show are:
- What is health literacy, and why is it important?
- What are the 3 critical components of health literacy, and how do you achieve them?
- Which skills are needed to navigate the healthcare system?
- What are the 3 questions anyone needs to ask for any health issue? (Source: National Patient Safety Foundation, ask me 3) 

7 GREAT Highlights and engaging features:

1. The highlight of the show is the embedded (or linked) 1984 internet video, "Tobacco Institute: Benefits of Smoking," which is very insightful about popular opinion and conflicts of interest versus objective scientific evidence and public health expert advice.
2. This show explains how to find credible health information sources and spot which sources you should discard or limit. Most health experts are very frustrated at the amount of misinformation they must regularly battle.  

• • Seniors can feel more at ease when they understand how to find good information.
  • Your adult weight loss patients won't be following an idea they saw on Facebook that magically makes all the pounds melt off without any changes.
  • Heart patients will stop trying to lower their cholesterol by eating more saturated fat because they read that in a guru's wellness newsletter.
  • Persons with diabetes will learn where to go to learn more about their disease.
  • You can train your staff so they give out better information and so they can use the three questions to see if patients understand what they need to do.
  • Caregivers will be more confident about navigating the system for their loved ones.
  • The presentation has helpful charts about how public policy, research, and dietary guidelines operate.
  • The strength of this show is how it explains how to interpret a source of information to see if it is credible.
  • Excellent website references are given to consumers for medical and nutrition information and research.
  • There are fun test scenarios at the end so the audience can say true or false if they are a sound idea. 

Target audience:

Teens and adults with a reading level of 5th grade or higher.

It would be great for

• lunch and learn topics
• In-service training
• Weight loss classes
• Seniors who love to learn
• Caregivers and adults who want to learn to guard their health
• High school or college health classes to teach students how to find good health information
• CDorporate talks

Length of time: 30-60 minutes. The embedded or linked video from the Tobacco archive is 25 minutes, and it is so interesting you won't want to stop it, but you could just play it for 10 minutes to get the examples and points across about "conflict of interest information" and "doing what everyone is doing."

# slides: 35 with speaker's notes

# shows: 2

• The portable file (.ppt) is 10 meg, and it contains a link to watch the video on the internet (the small size is good for portability).
• The full file (.pptx) with the embedded video is 120 meg. You can watch the video without being online.

Handouts: 2 in PDF

Get an immediate digital download right now, plus lifetime updates to the digital file.  

Why this show was written: 

This show was inspired by all the calls from dietitians and other healthcare providers who are frustrated with the misinformation they regularly deal with. It was also inspired by a story on the Institute of Medicine's website where a woman with extreme abdominal pain was taken to a hospital. When the doctors said she would need exploratory surgery, she said that was not going to make me feel better. And when she got home, she died from appendicitis.

In the age of social media and digital advertising, it is easy to be led astray by opinions and pseudoscience versus science. Most individuals do not take the time to read and research; if they do, they can easily get swept into conspiracy theories.