Countless times my mom has tried to explain to me the wording used on pill bottle labels and countless times I’ve failed to understand what it means. I chalk these talks up to being young and inexperienced, but there is a large population who is older and wiser yet still fails to understand their treatment plans. 

Health literacy is extremely important to be proficient in. Numerous complications can occur if a person can’t comprehend their doctor’s instructions. So much can go wrong simply because people aren’t educated enough about medical vocabulary. 

According to the University of Tennessee’s Health Science Center, people with low health literacy are impaired when it comes to managing chronic diseases or filling out important paperwork. Seemingly simple tasks to take care of your health turns into full-fledged espionage work to uncover the meaning behind your doctor’s instructions. 

So why does this issue matter so much today? Because according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of all Americans from 2015-2016 had used prescription drugs in the last month. There are millions of people who are seeing doctors for their problems, wanting to do the right thing for themselves, but then they fall short in their goal when it comes to completing their treatment plan. Pills are either left sitting on the counter or medicine cabinets are empty because patients are unaware of how to refill their prescriptions. 

A lack of health literacy impacts more than just the patient, too. Those who are surrounding the person with low health literacy (their family for example) experience changes to their own health and behavior, according to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 

Those around the person with low health literacy exhibit different behavioral traits. For example, a parent with low health literacy may not see signs of depression in their own child. The child’s needs are then overlooked and the child goes without the help they need. In the long run, low health literacy is more than misinterpreting a supplement schedule - it’s endangering your family on a micro and macro level. 

Not enough patient-doctor confidence is established in clinics across the globe. Patients should feel comfortable asking for clarification or a more in-depth explanation of what’s expected of them. Unfortunately, those conversations are not happening frequently enough. 

If these conversations were taking place, patients would have less emergency visits to hospitals concerning issues that were attempting to be treated, a child’s symptoms wouldn’t go unchecked, and most importantly, the patient would hopefully be doing better thanks to understanding what their pill bottle is saying.