Health Literacy and Patient Preparation in Radiology

Abstract

Health literacy is the capacity of an individual to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Unfortunately, more than half of Canadians cannot adequately navigate the health care system because they have limited health literacy. Patients with low health literacy may have limited reading abilities and poorer comprehension of written preparation documents. An important consideration in the radiation sciences for these patients is the ability to follow preparation requirements for diagnostic imaging procedures. It has been suggested that patients with limited health literacy are often less prepared for diagnostic examinations, and as a result, tend to have examinations of poorer diagnostic quality. Medical radiation technologists play an important role in educating patients regarding medical imaging examinations and helping them to properly prepare for these procedures. The purpose of this article is to define health literacy, provide some practical strategies to help medical radiation technologists identify patients with limited health literacy, and how to address limited health literacy issues to improve the quality of diagnostic imaging examinations. R ESUM E La litt eratie en mati ere de sant e la capacit e pour un individu d'obtenir, de traiter et de comprendre l'information de base sur la sant e et les services requis afin d'être en mesure de prendre des d ecisions eclair ees en mati ere de sant e. Malheureusement, plus de la moiti e des Canadiens ne sont pas en mesure de naviguer ad equatement dans le syst eme de sant e parce qu'ils ont une litt eratie limit ee en mati ere de sant e. Les patients avec une faible litt eratie peuvent avoir des difficult es de lecture, et une faible compr ehension des documents de pr eparations ecrits. Dans le domaine des sciences de la radiation, une consid eration importante pour ces patients est la capacit e de suivre les exigences de pr eparation en pr evision des proc edures d'imagerie diagnostique. Il a et e sugg er e que les patients ayant un faible niveau de litt eratie en mati ere de sant e sont souvent moins bien pr epar es pour les examens diagnostiques et qu'en cons equence ils tendent a avoir des examens de qualit e diagnostique plus faible. Les technologues en radiation m edicale (TRM) jouent un rôle important dans l' education des patients en ce qui a trait aux examens d'imagerie m edicale et en les aidant a se pr eparer ad equatement pour ces examens. Le but de cet article est de d efinir la litt eratie en mati ere de sant e, de fournir des strat egies pour aider les TRM a reconnaître les patients qui ont une litt eratie limit ee et a traiter les probl emes de litt eratie limit ee afin d'am eliorer la qualit e des examens d'imagerie diagnostiques.

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Cross-sectional survey of health literacy among health science students in Singapore

“…This is significant, particularly in the field of radiation sciences, where the ability to adhere to preparation guidelines for diagnostic imaging procedures is crucial. 45 It has been proposed that those with limited health literacy often come less prepared for diagnostic examinations, leading to lower-quality diagnostic results. Medical radiation technologists have a vital role in educating patients about medical imaging examinations and assisting them in adequately preparing for these procedures.…”

Patient experiences and anxiety related to medical imaging: challenges and potential solutions

“…Patients' health literacy remains low, 8,9 and efficient interventions to enhance patient understanding and outcomes associated with health literacy are needed. 10 The authors chose an information leaflet as the format for their patient education intervention to improve understanding and help reduce maternal anxiety surrounding fetal MRI.…”