NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 1 Preliminary Care Coordination Plan

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX 4050 Coord Patient-Centered Care

Prof. Name

Date

Preliminary Care Coordination Plan 

This assessment aims to develop a preliminary care coordination plan on health literacy. It will discuss the psychosocial, physical, and cultural considerations related to health literacy. Moreover, the specific goals will be crafted to address this healthcare concern and improve community health. Lastly, community resources to facilitate the health literacy of community individuals will be identified. Care coordination is providing collaborative and joint care from an interdisciplinary team of healthcare professionals (Solomon & Soares, 2020). Through care coordination for health literacy, community health outcomes can be improved.

Health Literacy: A Significant Health Concern

Health literacy is a vital public health aspect that refers to an individual’s capacity to procure, absorb, and understand the fundamental health information and conditions to choose health programs wisely. It plays a significant role in navigating a person’s health as it influences making informed decisions about one’s health (Stormacq et al., 2019). Health literacy impacts the physical aspects of individuals, as lower health literacy is related to poorer health repercussions. About 36% of U.S natives have low and below-fundamental health literacy  Individuals, calling for a pressing need for health literacy enhancement (Coughlin et al., 2020). People lacking health literacy struggle to comprehend medical conditions, treatment plans, and preventive healthcare behaviors. This leads to the onset of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension and the worsening of non-communicable diseases. Ultimately, hospital readmission rates increase due to increased emergencies (Nutbeam & Lloyd, 2021). 

Health literacy also impacts the psychosocial aspects of individuals. People can misinterpret medical information due to lower health literacy, leading to confusion, fear, and anxiety. The misunderstandings related to treatment plans, medications, and preventive care can foster uncertainty and emotional distress (Pehlivan et al., 2020).  Cultural norms, beliefs, and practices also influence low health literacy. Due to a high degree of trust in traditional or alternative medicine and low health literacy, cultural people rely on traditional healing practices (Kostareva et al., 2020). This prevents choosing medical interventions to treat complicated health conditions and impacts health outcomes. Similarly, cultural stigma to seek health information or discuss health issues openly hampers health literacy (Pérez-Flores & Cabassa, 2021). 

Best Practices for Health Improvement

 Community individuals must have adequate health literacy to improve health. Several evidence-based best practices can enhance this. One such practice is conducting community-based health educational programs to improve health literacy by providing appropriate and sufficient knowledge and skills to make mindful, healthy decisions (Nutbeam & Lloyd, 2021). These programs can be further tailored to address the cultural sensitivity and needs of the specific population. Another way to increase health literacy and health improvement is by providing easily accessible health information, both in print and online (Estacio et al., 2019). The educational material in brochures or health guides can be disseminated among community members. Moreover, this educational material must be in simple words that are easily understandable by community members. Health literacy can be further thrived by communicating with patients in plain and culturally appropriate language to facilitate medical and health understanding (Walters et al., 2020).

Assumptions and Points of Uncertainty

These evidence-based practices are assumed to enhance health literacy and increase the possibility of making timely and informed decisions to treat healthcare problems. This will ultimately improve health outcomes and prevent complications due to ignorance and illiteracy (Nutbeam & Lloyd, 2021). The analysis also raises some points of uncertainty, such as whether the educational materials effectively enhance the buy-in of community members or require further revisions. Moreover, culturally diverse individuals may not give in to their traditional medicine use goals and may need culturally sensitive training guides for healthcare professionals (Walters et al., 2020).

Specific Goals to Address Health Literacy

The following goals are developed to address health literacy and increase its rates within the community to promote a safe and healthy community. These goals are not only specific but also measurable, achievable, and realistic.

Goal 1

To improve health literacy among the elderly population (Specific) by 20% (Measurable) through collaborative educational sessions with senior centers, healthcare professionals, and community organizations (Achievable and Realistic) (Lin et al., 2019).

Goal 2

Integrate cultural competency to increase health literacy for culturally diverse individuals (Specific) by conducting cultural competency training programs (Achievable and Realistic) for three months (measurable) (Ratna, 2019). 

Goal 3

Improve access to health information among the targeted community through a health literacy app (Specific) that increases health literacy by 25% (Measurable). This will require collaboration with community organizations to promote app use (Achievable) and ensure its accessibility to individuals with limited access to technology (Realistic) (Dunn & Hazzard, 2019).        

Community Resources for Health Literacy

 Identifying local community resources that significantly contribute to health literacy improvement is imperative. These community resources can be related to health literacy programs by health navigators or organizations and patient education material on health literacy. One such community resource is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has effortlessly worked to promote health literacy by developing a health literacy plan to educate patients and health professionals on promoting health literacy. Moreover, it has provided a sign-up feature to provide weekly health literacy updates for community members. This can improve people’s understanding of upcoming health conditions and trends (CDC, 2019).

Florida Health is another organization that aims to improve the health and well-being of the Florida community. Various programs and services are available to promote health literacy, from nutrition to healthcare problems (Florida Health, n.d.). The community members can access these services online and on-site. These community resources by Florida Health include the Health District Center, Little Haiti Health Center, and West Perrine Health Center,, which provides wellness programs for immunizations, family planning, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases (Florida Health, n.d.). Other resources include the Refugee Health Program, West Dade Family Planning Clinic, Homestead / Flordia City, Frederica Wilson, and Juanita Mann Health Center (Florida Health, n.d.).

Conclusion

This paper summarizes health literacy as a healthcare concern reviewed from physical, psychosocial, and cultural considerations. Health literacy can be achieved by following specific goals of increasing health literacy among the elderly, increasing cultural competency among healthcare providers, and enhancing the use of health literacy apps. The community resources identified are CDC and Florida Health, which offer a huge number of on-site clinics and health centers to educate people on health literacy and provide wellness programs.

References

CDC. (2019, October 17). Health literacy: Accurate, accessible and actionable health information for all. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.gov.  https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/index.html

Coughlin, S. S., Vernon, M., Hatzigeorgiou, C., & George, V. (2020). Health literacy, social determinants of health, and disease prevention and control. Journal of Environment and Health Sciences, 6(1), 3061. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7889072/  

Dunn, P., & Hazzard, E. (2019). Technology approaches to digital health literacy. International Journal of Cardiology, 293, 294–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2019.06.039 

Estacio, E. V., Whittle, R., & Protheroe, J. (2019). The digital divide: Examining socio-demographic factors associated with health literacy, access and use of internet to seek health information. Journal of Health Psychology, 24(12), 1668–1675. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317695429 

Florida Health. (n.d.). Florida department of health in miami-dade. Miamidade.floridahealth.gov. https://miamidade.floridahealth.gov/index.html 

NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 1 Preliminary Care Coordination Plan

Florida Health. (n.d.). Locations | florida department of health in miami-dade. Miamidade.floridahealth.gov. https://miamidade.floridahealth.gov/locations/index.html 

Kostareva, U., Albright, C. L., Berens, E.-M., Levin-Zamir, D., Aringazina, A., Lopatina, M., Ivanov, L. L., & Sentell, T. L. (2020). International perspective on health literacy and health equity: Factors that influence the former soviet union immigrants. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(6), 2155. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062155 

Lin, S.-C., Chen, I-Ju., Yu, W.-R., Lee, S.-Y. D., & Tsai, T.-I. (2019). Effect of a community-based participatory health literacy program on health behaviors and health empowerment among community-dwelling older adults: A quasi-experimental study. Geriatric Nursing, 40(5), 494–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2019.03.013 

Nutbeam, D., & Lloyd, J. E. (2021). Understanding and responding to health literacy as a social determinant of health. Annual Review of Public Health, 42(1), 159–173. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090419-102529 

Pehlivan, Ş., Tokur Kesgi̇nM., & Uymaz, P. (2020). Psychological distress and mental health literacy in university students. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 57(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/ppc.12709 

Pérez-Flores, N. J., & Cabassa, L. J. (2021). Effectiveness of mental health literacy and stigma interventions for latino/a adults in the United States: A systematic review. Stigma and Health, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000343 

NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 1 Preliminary Care Coordination Plan

Ratna, H. (2019). The importance of effective communication in healthcare practice. Harvard Public Health Review, 23(1), 1–6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48546767 

Stormacq, C., Broucke, S. V. den , & Wosinski, J. (2019). Does health literacy mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and health disparities? Integrative review. Health Promotion International, 34(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/day062

Solomon, D., & Soares, N. (2020). Telehealth approaches to care coordination in autism spectrum disorder. Interprofessional Care Coordination for Pediatric Autism Spectrum Disorder, 289–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46295-6_19  

Walters, R., Leslie, S. J., Polson, R., Cusack, T., & Gorely, T. (2020). Establishing the efficacy of interventions to improve health literacy and health behaviours: A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08991-0