Alokozai Aaron, Bernstein David N, Sheikholeslami Nicole, Uhler Lauren, Ring David, Kamal Robin N
1 Stanford University, Redwood City, CA, USA.
2 University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, NY, USA.
Hand (N Y). 2018 Sep;13(5):538-546. doi: 10.1177/1558944717708027. Epub 2017 May 17.
Patients with limited health literacy may have less knowledge and fewer resources for efficient access and navigation of the health care system. We tested the null hypothesis that there is no correlation between health literacy and total time spent seeking hand surgery care.
New patients visiting a hand surgery clinic at a suburban academic medical center were asked to complete a questionnaire to determine demographics, total time spent seeking hand surgery care, and outcomes. A total of 112 patients were included in this study.
We found health literacy levels did not correlate with total time seeking hand surgery care or from booking an appointment to being evaluated in clinic.
In this suburban academic medical center, patients with low health literacy do not spend more time seeking hand surgery care and do have longer delays between seeking and receiving care. The finding that-at least in this setting-health literacy does not impact patient time seeking hand care suggests that resources to improve health disparities can be focused elsewhere in the care continuum.
健康素养有限的患者可能对医疗保健系统进行有效访问和导航的知识较少且资源有限。我们检验了健康素养与寻求手外科护理所花费的总时间之间无相关性的零假设。
要求在郊区学术医疗中心的手外科诊所就诊的新患者填写一份问卷，以确定人口统计学特征、寻求手外科护理所花费的总时间以及结果。本研究共纳入112例患者。
我们发现健康素养水平与寻求手外科护理的总时间或从预约到在诊所接受评估的时间均无相关性。
在这个郊区学术医疗中心，健康素养低的患者在寻求手外科护理时不会花费更多时间，且在寻求护理和接受护理之间也没有更长的延误。至少在这种情况下，健康素养不会影响患者寻求手部护理的时间这一发现表明，改善健康差距的资源可以集中在护理连续体的其他方面。
