The patient is a seventy-year-old female of Hispanic origin. O.G consent is available through appendices A. She is currently widowed. Husband died of a gunshot wound in 2000. The patient was born in Guatemala and came to the United States around the age of thirty. Her main language is Spanish but does understand and speaks English. For education the patient stopped going to school at age 8 during second grade, when she was taken out of school to help her mother with house work which is common in those parts of the world. She has a total of six children all living at least a 25-mile radius from her except for two daughters she left behind in Guatemala. The patient lives a single home house with her oldest …show more content…
The deficient knowledge could cause harm to the patient. Not knowing the side effects and what and how to check her glucose can instigate a serious complication in her health. It is important the patient understand the magnitude of her condition. Without the proper knowledge she could possible cause more harm than good. When preparing a care plan, a nurse is responsible that the patient understands what is going on. The nurse can explain in many different ways either by cognitive, fine motor, of psychosocial skills. When teaching and promoting the nurse must find a way for the patient to learn by considering what level the patient is in or what way the patient learns best. For example, a child who is diagnosed with diabetes, the nurse can use a doll the explain to the child, in the child’s cognitive level, of what is happening to their body. The same should be used for everyone. The nurse must find a way to get through the patient in order to better their quality of life. In the case of O.G, no one ever considered her primary language and education as a barrier of care. And because of this, the patient deficient in knowledge of her condition. “Communicative literacy can be defined as the ability to express meaning using language, including written, spoken (verbal) and gesture (non-verbal; Zarcadoolas et al., 2006). Health literacy, a subcategory of communicative literacy, is the ability to discuss illness and understand information provided by a physician, nurse, or other healthcare provider that effects satisfaction with care and adherence to treatment recommendations for adults (Nutbeam, 2000; Zarcadoolas et al., 2006). As these definitions suggest, communication between patient and doctor is the key to health literacy” (as cited in Huntington,