Candace McNaugton MD, MPH, is an emergency medicine physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a fellow in the Vanderbilt Emergency Medicine Research Training Program. Dr. McNaughton also completed a VA Quality Scholar Fellowship, focusing on issues of quality and patient safety. Her research looks at patients with heart failure, hypertension and other chronic diseases who seek care in the emergency department.
In this podcast, Dr. McNaughton talks with Helen Osborne about:
- Numeracy and chronic disease. Number-based tasks that patients must do to care for themselves at home.
- Return ER visits and hospitalizations. Patients with low numeracy skills appear to be at more risk for acute exacerbation of heart failure symptoms.
- What can all of us do to help? Recommendations for clinicians, patients, and healthcare systems.
More Ways to Learn:
- McNaughton CD, Collins SP, Kripalani S, Rothman R et al, “Low numeracy is associated with increased odds of 30-day emergency department and hospital recidivism for patients with acute heart failure.” Circulation Heart Failure, 2013 Jan 1;6(1);40-6.
- Vanderbilt Program on Effective Health Communication. At http://medicineandpublichealth.vanderbilt.edu/center.php?userid=1815073&home=1
- National Network of Libraries of Medicine: Promoting Health Literacy Through Easy-to-Read Materials. At http://nnlm.gov/training/healthliteracy/
Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition (Updated 2018), by Helen Osborne. Relevant chapters include: 4, 5, 7, 26.
Read a transcript of this podcast.
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