English Nathan C, Jones Bayley A, Chu Daniel I
Department of General Surgery, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
Clin Colon Rectal Surg. 2024 May 2;38(1):26-33. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1786389. eCollection 2025 Jan.
Health literacy is defined as the ability to obtain, engage, understand, and act upon health information to make decisions about health care. Health literacy is a key determinant of health outcomes and disparities including those in surgery. Over one-third of surgical patients suffer from low health literacy, with disproportionately higher rates among older, rural, and black patients. Low health literacy has been associated with poor adherence to preoperative and discharge instructions, longer lengths-of-stay, higher readmission rates, and higher health care costs. However, health literacy is modifiable, and therefore it is uniquely positioned for meaningful interventions at the patient, provider, and system level. These interventions include using more visual aids with patients and families (patient level), communicating in more understandable ways (provider level), and improving the organizational health literacy of hospitals (system level). Through high-quality research and multilevel interventions, significant opportunities exist to address low health literacy and improve outcomes, eliminate disparities, and reduce costs for this disparity population.
健康素养被定义为获取、参与、理解健康信息并据此做出医疗保健决策的能力。健康素养是健康结果和差异（包括手术方面的差异）的关键决定因素。超过三分之一的外科手术患者健康素养较低，在老年、农村和黑人患者中比例尤其高。低健康素养与术前和出院指导依从性差、住院时间延长、再入院率高以及医疗保健成本高有关。然而，健康素养是可以改变的，因此在患者、医护人员和系统层面进行有意义的干预具有独特的优势。这些干预措施包括与患者及其家属使用更多视觉辅助工具（患者层面）、以更易懂的方式进行沟通（医护人员层面）以及提高医院的组织健康素养（系统层面）。通过高质量的研究和多层次干预，存在重大机会来解决低健康素养问题，改善结果，消除差异，并降低这一差异人群的成本。
