Retirement and Estate Planning for Farm Families

What is health literacy?
It is the ability of an individual to read, understand, and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment (Wikipedia, 2008). It is thought that up to half of patients cannot understand basic health care information.

How did health literacy get started?

It emerged from two groups:

· Physicians and other health care providers.

· Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) practitioners.

What should a patient do to improve their health care?

Use a script called “Ask Me 3” questions each time you talk to a doctor, nurse or pharmacist:

· What is my main problem?

· What do I need to do?

· Why is it important for me to do this?

This information is from the Partnership for Clear Health Information at the National Patient Safety Foundation. http://www.npsf.org/pchc/
Materials to teach a program about “Ask Me 3” are available at http://www.npsf.org/askme3/PCHC/download.php

Here are some suggestions for evaluating the quality of health information on the web.
They are from the Medline Plus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthywebsurfing.html

· The site should include an “about us” page. The site should provide contact information.

· There should be a description of the process for selecting or approving information for the site.

· The information should include dates of publication or posting to the Internet.

· The site should be funded by a reliable source.

· You should discuss the information with your health care provider. Be especially cautious about any claims that sound too good to be true.

To help individuals learn more about their health, Dr. Harlan R. Weinberg wrote a book called Dr. Weinberg’s Guide to the Best Health Resources on the Web. His book was published in 2008 by Harper Collins. Several of his resources are listed below. All of the sites are free.

General Health Resources

NIH Senior Health
http://nihseniorhealth.gov/
Be sure to look at the Exercise stories and Health videos.

eMedicine
www.emedicine.com

National Library of Medicine
www.nlm.nih.gov

Medline Plus
http://medlineplus.gov

Resources for specific topics (in alphabetical order):

National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/default.htm

Allergy, Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/allergy.html

Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral Center, National Institute on Aging www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/default.htm

Anemia, Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/anemia.html

Breast Cancer, Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/breastcancer.html

also:
Breast Cancer, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/breast

Cardiology/Heart Disease, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
www.nhlbi.nih.gov

Cross-cultural Health/Minority Health
Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/omhd

Think Cultural Health/US Department of Health and Human Services www.thinkculturalhealth.org

Diabetes, Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabetes.html
An interactive tutorial is also available in Spanish.

Obesity Treatment Guidelines, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/ob_home.htm
The site includes free materials that can be downloaded.

Prostrate Cancer, Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/prostatecancer.html
Many of the resources are also available in Spanish.

Remember this tip:

Use a script called “Ask Me 3” questions each time you talk to a doctor, nurse or pharmacist:

· What is my main problem?

· What do I need to do?

· Why is it important for me to do this?