Making Sense of the Numbers —Health Numeracy and You (and Me)

This post is the first in our “Health Literacy Month” series happening this month, October 2017 As health care becomes more sophisticated and complex, it’s more and more likely that we will face situations where we have to use numerical skills to figure out our own treatment choices.  Our capacity to deal with the numerical component of health information is called “health numeracy” and it’s akin to health literacy, but is not the same thing (people can have high literacy and low numeracy, and you can’t tell by looking what a person’s numeracy level is!).   The challenges relating to numeracy are many, and can defeat even people (including health care providers) with the best intentions.  According to an article in The New York Times, one study found that almost 85% of parents gave their children the wrong dose of liquid cough medicine, and of those wrong doses, 68% were overdoses.  Scary! So, now, want to learn more? First, consider attending a FREE online health numeracy class, “Making Sense of Numbers: Understanding Risks and Benefits, and Learning How to Communicate Health Statistics”.  It’s by the NNLM’s own Michelle Burda, and it’s a great overview of the topic, and some ways to think about numerical aspects of health. Second, if you want an overview of how to work with people who may have numeracy challenges, check out this article (coincidentally, by me, and starting on page 28), “Safety in Numbers: Helping People with Health Numeracy...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Blog health literacy health numeracy iconarray Source Type: news