Literacy issue

caliotter3 · Apr 22, 2012

Verbal discussion with verbal feedback.

KateRN1 · Apr 22, 2012

This is a tough situation, for sure. Some suggestions: Color coding med bottles with administration charts, pictures of what not to eat with the universal "no" symbol (circle with line through it), charts of what to eat on brightly colored paper to make them seem more appealing. You can use pictures from magazines, the internet, etec. I collect the free senior guides and senior health magazines that can generally be found at the entrance to the grocery store for things like this.

If your patient is interested in learning to read, contact the local literacy council to see if they have home visiting volunteers who can help. They're also a great resource for low- or no-literacy health information.

Best wishes!

sharpeimom · Apr 22, 2012

you've been given some excellent suggestions so far. some of your patients or family members or their caretakers may very well be embarassed that they can't read or are functionally illiterate. my husband and i are both volunteers with our local literacy program,

attended the very same training program, yet sometimes employe vastly different techniques when working with clients. we also both volunteer with a program that helps elementary through middle school kids become better readers. he does better with the older kids

who frustrate the heck out of me while i just adore the little ones who drive him batty.

the point? not every system works with everyone and you simply will not reach every single person you work with. i volunteered with the kid program in the schools before i became an adult tutor. my husband did the reverse. i took the adult tutoring class partially so i could help some of my adult psych patients who were functionally illiterate, be able to be more successful when they were discharged.

if you can read you can be more compliant, be employed, order from a menu, and ....

once someone begins to have a few small successes with reading, they usually progress fairly rapidly. a good literacy program will also

tailor itself (after a point) to fit the needs of the client.

TopazLover, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2012

I suspect more people than you know are functionally illiterate. Many are able to hide this quite well. Once I got with the idea of looking for it I found at least 10% of our D&A pop. were functionally illiterate meaning they tested below 4th grade level. Getting it out in the open is so important. Giving credit for the honesty an lack of blowing smoke are important. Ask the person how they cope. They know what works for them. Some will use this as a way to get out of responsibility. I take it that this is not the case here.

Perhaps a tape recording combined with color coded materials?

sharpeimom · Apr 22, 2012

aky is so right! functionally illiterate people get to be expert at covering up and figuring out what works for them. things we take for granted are hard to nearly impossible if you either can't read or read on the same level as a seven to nine year old. it means never being able to by generics in cans because usually the plain can just says "green beans" instead of showing green beans in a can the way libby's or del monte beans do.

directions to go on a trip? forget it!

you can mark all med bottles for morning with red tape or sharpie marker, noon or lunch with green, blue for suppertime, and yellow

for hs. meds at more than time? use whichever colors you need.

tape vital things about their meds to be played back. you can by pill sets with cases for each day x 31 days that can be prefilled. they come with or without timers, and some have recording abilities too. i got mine at easy comforts. my fine motor control is horrible but i just have the bare bones basic model -- my memory is fine.

i've noticed a huge incentive to wanting to learn to read is the desire to read to a child or a grandchild and wanting to be able to give them meds when they're ill. you find what opening you can and run with it. just as with anything else, change is scary.