VISITING THE DOCTOR

The AMA has come up with some great tips for those faced with literacy barriers:

The doctor and office staff are there to help you get the most from your visit.

• Ask questions! Doctors and other health care workers want you to understand what you need to know.
• Get ready for a visit to your doctor: Make an easy-to-read list of questions you want to ask and things you want to tell the doctor.
• Take a friend or family member with you. This person can write down what you need to remember. Ask them to use easy words that you can read when you get home.
• Take medicines you are taking with you to show the doctor - even over-the-counter medicine.
• Tell your doctor about anything that doesn’t seem right or any new symptoms you might have.
• Repeat to the doctor or nurse what they have told you to be sure you understand correctly. Don’t be afraid to ask them to say it in simpler words.
• Ask for the name of the person you should speak to if you have questions later on. Write the name down.
• If you think of something else to ask when you get home, write down the question and call the doctor’s office.
  
  HEALTH VISIT ROLE-PLAYS

Create role plays such as "Phoning the Doctor", "Calling for Emergency Medical Help", "Visiting the Doctor" (for this one you can use the steps described in "Visiting the Doctor", left), "Visiting the Hospital" or "A Trip to the Emergency Room".

The tutor plays the health care professional and the student plays the patient or patient’s family member.

Use some of the vocabulary in "Word Study for Better Health" below.

You may want to include a lesson segment on filling out forms. If possible, pick up some sample new patient forms, insurance forms, etc., from your doctor’s office or the health department, or make up forms that include the information generally asked for at a medical visit.

Periodically revisit a role-play, practicing with different symptoms and different parts of the body.

WORD STUDY FOR HEALTH

Visits to the doctor or hospital can be stressful times for anyone but especially for those whose low reading or language skills make it difficult for them to communicate with practitioners.

Helping your partner gain the skills to successfully manage these situations is an important part of being a tutor. Sooner or later everyone needs to visit the doctor.

INTRODUCING NEW VOCABULARY

One thing you can do to help your partner is introduce essential new vocabulary that your partner may need to describe a medical problem to the doctor, such as:

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

• One of the most critical health literacy skills is understanding dosages:
• Practice using various real prescription and over-the-counter labels if possible.
• If necessary, photocopy different kinds of labels, enlarging the print.
• Locate dosage information on the labels and compare the placement of the information.
• Talk about key words that provide information about amount, frequency, and patient’s age (or size).
• Work on words for different kinds of measurement (for some ESL students, this may mean practicing conversions from metric measures).
• Bring actual measuring devices to the lesson: Use "sticky notes" to identify the words that go with the devices.
• Have the student practice identifying the correct device for use with different label directions.
  
  Look for more health literacy tips and lesson ideas in future issues of the READ ON! newsletter. Call (586) 286-2750 for your copy.