Evaluation of the Health Literacy and Numeracy of

Evaluation of the Health Literacy and Numeracy of Patients in a Family Medicine Clinic at a Community Hospital Samantha a a Prabakaran , Junior, Pre-Med, Honors College, USF b BACKGROUND HEALTH LITERACY is the ability to read and use health information to make choices about health care. 1 HEALTH NUMERACY is the ability to understand apply information from numbers, tables, graphs and statistics to make medical decisions. 2 Other factors contributing to the need for patients to have health literacy and 3 numeracy skills: • • Direct to consumer advertising Patient centered medical care Internet Evidence based medicine Sabrina b Prabakaran , C Stephanie c Fall , and Julia Fashner, d MD Medical Student, Florida State University College of Medicine Medical Student, Morsani College of Medicine, USF d Associate Director, FSU-COM Family Medicine Residency at Lee Memorial Health System METHODS Prospective cohort design Convenience sample INCLUSION criteria: Patient over the age of 18, who have a clinic visit on the day of testing. EXCLUSION criteria: Patient’s who are : • Under the age of 18 • Unable to verbally communicate • Unable to speak or read English • Unable to hear the instructions (deaf) RESULTS N= 56 (31 female, 25 male) Mean age - 55 years old Mean education - some college Mean overall health - good REALM S-TOFHLA NUMi GHNT-6 Mean score 65/66 34/36 15/20 3/6 n=30 n=25 n=24 n=29 Literacy tests used: 4 5 REALM and S-TOFHLA No significant difference for test results when comparing gender, age, educational status or overall health status. Numeracy tests used: 6 7 NUMi and GHNT-6 Health literacy tests: No difference between the two tests Each consented patient was tested with two different assessments which had been randomly allocated for that day. Health numeracy: No difference between the two tests Regression analysis: Education status contributes to 24% of the NUMi score (p=0. 0128) (All other tests had non-significant findings. ) PURPOSE OF STUDY To determine the literacy and numeracy ability and skills of the patients attending the Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency (FMR) clinic, located at Lee Memorial Hospital. TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008 www. Poster. Presentations. com REFERENCES 1. Ownby RL, et al. Patient Educ Couns. 2014. 2. Golbeck AL, et al. Am J Prevent Med. 2005. 3. Reyna VF, et al. Psychol Bull. 2009. 4. Arouzullah AM, et al. Med Care. 2007. 5. Baker DW, et al. Patient Educ Couns. 1999. 6. Schapira MM, et al. Med Decis Making. 2012. 7. Osborn CY, et al. Patient Ed Couns. 2013. CONCLUSION Patients attending the FMR clinic have a higher than high school level literacy and average numeracy skills. LIMITATIONS Selection Bias