1. What did you like or dislike about taking an online course?
I liked the flexibility of the course. I very much liked the organization of the modules on WEB CT. They were easy to follow and made it clear what the expectations for the course were. I disliked the inability to ask questions face-to- face with the instructors and get immediate directions on topics that were confusing to me.
2. What topic did you learn the most about and what was your favorite topic?
I enjoyed learning about END NOTE. I believe I will find this a very useful tool as I proceed through the DNP program. I would suggest you have a tutorial on END NOTE similar to the one on PubMED. It would make the process so much easier to understand.
I also enjoyed the several NPR podcasts on subjects such as plagiarism and E-Health. I am a big Diane Rehm and Science Friday fan, so I always enjoy listening to these programs.
3. If you were the instructor, and this being the first course for all DNP and Master students, what would you do the same or different?
I would have students develop a simple online teaching project from beginning to end incorporating the concepts we learned in this course. I think this would make the information more useful, applicable and fun. A project also solidifies the concepts and long term sustainable learning. I could tell that both of you, Mollie and Allen, put alot of time, energy and effort into this class. Thanks.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Module V Ethics and Plagarism
Visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at http://www.ahrq.gov/. What, if any relationship do you see between the information available on this webpage and regulatory, accreditation, and reimbursement issues and healthcare information system use and design? Post your ethical considerations as a message in your blog.
The AHRG website has an abundance of information for a large and varied audience. For the purposes of this posting, I choose to focus on consumer health information and health literacy, which in my opinion go hand-in-hand. I have become very interested in the subject of health literacy and recently gave a lecture on it to a group of undergraduate students. The AHGR website has a fairly comprehensive section on health literacy as well as a separate section on health information for consumers. It is estimated that only 12% of American adults over the age of 16 are proficient at understanding health information. Of great concern is that 36% or 90 million Americans have basic or below basic health literacy skills. (NAAL 2003) Health literacy or more accurately limited health literacy has a huge impact on health care outcomes both financially as well as physical and emotional health. People with inadequate health literacy have a poorer health status. The economic burden is an additional $7500 per person annually in avoidable costs. (NAAL 2003) The at risk groups include the elderly, minorities, high school dropouts, non-English speaking, low -income and people insured with Medicare and Medicaid. (NAAL 2003).
The relationship I see between the information found AHRG regarding health literacy and this module’s information is comprehensive and widespread. From a regulatory and accreditation standpoint, JCAHO’s public policy statement on patient-centered communications states, “Effective communication is critical to the successful delivery of health care services. The Joint Commission supports a number of efforts to improve communication between health care professionals and patients.” (JCAHO 2009) One of these efforts is related to health literacy and it’s impact on patient outcomes.
In Hebda and Cszar Chapter 12, The Electronic Health Record, it lists some of the benefits of the EHR to patients as; improved access and control over health information, improved ability to ask informed questions and greater responsibility for one’s own care.” This demonstrates the usefulness of technology in increasing health literacy and improving patient education.
As stated earlier, limited health literacy places a huge economic burden on our health care system. Two at risk groups are the elderly and Medicare recipients. Reimbursement ICD 9 codes were discussed in this module and unfortunately there are no classifications for re-hospitalizations due to misunderstood medication regimens, or follow-up appointments, etc. If we had those, perhaps we would all take the time to make sure our patients understood their health care plan.
The AHRG website has a consumer information section. I was surprised that most of the information here was not written at a level the consumer can understand. Health literature should be written at a 5th grade level. Most of it is written at a 10th grade level. It appears to me that this is true of the consumer information on this web site. This is surprising since they have such good information on health literacy. I don’t think I would send a patient to this website for health education. I think it was hard to navigate and understand.
Ethical considerations are to always keep patient information confidential and show respect and regard for their privacy. This is very important when educating the patient and assessing them for their level of health literacy. I think this can become more of a challenge as we move toward electronic medical records and health information as safety and security can be more easily violated. I was impressed with AHRG’s initiative for health care technology to bring more resources to rural areas. I was involved with the Utah Telehealth Program for several years and one of our challenges in delivering care to the rural areas was that we had to have a very secure private network when doing patient exams, history, and education via telemedicine. AHRG is committed to quality care and research and does seem to be the “watchdog” in many instances, which in my opinion is a needed and useful service. Overall I found the website to be very helpful and interesting.
National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). National Center for Education Statistics. 2003
http://nces.ed.gov/naal Retrieved Dec. 7, 2009
Joint Commission Public Policy
http://jointcommission.ort/publicpolicy/facts_healthliteracyhtm Retrieved Dec. 7, 2009
Hebda, T., Czar P. (2009) Handbook of Informatics for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals . (4th ed.) Upper Saddle Ave. NJ. Pearson
The AHRG website has an abundance of information for a large and varied audience. For the purposes of this posting, I choose to focus on consumer health information and health literacy, which in my opinion go hand-in-hand. I have become very interested in the subject of health literacy and recently gave a lecture on it to a group of undergraduate students. The AHGR website has a fairly comprehensive section on health literacy as well as a separate section on health information for consumers. It is estimated that only 12% of American adults over the age of 16 are proficient at understanding health information. Of great concern is that 36% or 90 million Americans have basic or below basic health literacy skills. (NAAL 2003) Health literacy or more accurately limited health literacy has a huge impact on health care outcomes both financially as well as physical and emotional health. People with inadequate health literacy have a poorer health status. The economic burden is an additional $7500 per person annually in avoidable costs. (NAAL 2003) The at risk groups include the elderly, minorities, high school dropouts, non-English speaking, low -income and people insured with Medicare and Medicaid. (NAAL 2003).
The relationship I see between the information found AHRG regarding health literacy and this module’s information is comprehensive and widespread. From a regulatory and accreditation standpoint, JCAHO’s public policy statement on patient-centered communications states, “Effective communication is critical to the successful delivery of health care services. The Joint Commission supports a number of efforts to improve communication between health care professionals and patients.” (JCAHO 2009) One of these efforts is related to health literacy and it’s impact on patient outcomes.
In Hebda and Cszar Chapter 12, The Electronic Health Record, it lists some of the benefits of the EHR to patients as; improved access and control over health information, improved ability to ask informed questions and greater responsibility for one’s own care.” This demonstrates the usefulness of technology in increasing health literacy and improving patient education.
As stated earlier, limited health literacy places a huge economic burden on our health care system. Two at risk groups are the elderly and Medicare recipients. Reimbursement ICD 9 codes were discussed in this module and unfortunately there are no classifications for re-hospitalizations due to misunderstood medication regimens, or follow-up appointments, etc. If we had those, perhaps we would all take the time to make sure our patients understood their health care plan.
The AHRG website has a consumer information section. I was surprised that most of the information here was not written at a level the consumer can understand. Health literature should be written at a 5th grade level. Most of it is written at a 10th grade level. It appears to me that this is true of the consumer information on this web site. This is surprising since they have such good information on health literacy. I don’t think I would send a patient to this website for health education. I think it was hard to navigate and understand.
Ethical considerations are to always keep patient information confidential and show respect and regard for their privacy. This is very important when educating the patient and assessing them for their level of health literacy. I think this can become more of a challenge as we move toward electronic medical records and health information as safety and security can be more easily violated. I was impressed with AHRG’s initiative for health care technology to bring more resources to rural areas. I was involved with the Utah Telehealth Program for several years and one of our challenges in delivering care to the rural areas was that we had to have a very secure private network when doing patient exams, history, and education via telemedicine. AHRG is committed to quality care and research and does seem to be the “watchdog” in many instances, which in my opinion is a needed and useful service. Overall I found the website to be very helpful and interesting.
National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). National Center for Education Statistics. 2003
http://nces.ed.gov/naal Retrieved Dec. 7, 2009
Joint Commission Public Policy
http://jointcommission.ort/publicpolicy/facts_healthliteracyhtm Retrieved Dec. 7, 2009
Hebda, T., Czar P. (2009) Handbook of Informatics for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals . (4th ed.) Upper Saddle Ave. NJ. Pearson
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