Essential health information is missed by about 43% of patients over the age of 60, according to recent studies. At a time when following medical advice is so essential, patients might be missing vital details about their care.
There is a Worldwide Hearing Epidemic
Hearing loss isn’t a small situation. Disabling hearing loss is a problem globally for around a third of individuals who are 65 or older.
But surprisingly, if we go a little deeper we find that only 30% of those people with disabling hearing loss have taken steps to better their situation. This pattern isn’t good news for healthcare as we’ll show next.
With Health Care – Communication is Crucial
A major cause of death is medical error and miscommunication is a leading cause of medical error. A study from Harvard demonstrated that up to 37% of serious injuries that were caused by medical errors could have been prevented with improved communication. Lives could be saved if essential information could be better communicated with patients.
How Medical Care is Impacted by Hearing Loss
Statistics can seem a bit fuzzy and hard to get one’s head around so let’s consider some important info you could miss when talking to pharmacists, nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals.
When it comes to reaching health objectives, the advice of health care professionals is a key element. They might explain what balanced levels are for things like blood sugar or blood pressure. They might tell you to stay away from certain foods to prevent spikes in these levels that can be harmful. Dealing with your condition could become a problem if you miss essential advice.
These medical providers might explain danger zones that indicate that you need medical care. You may not get the help that you require because you didn’t fully comprehend what your doctor was explaining.
There might be important details about dangerous side effects of medications which your pharmacist is trying to make you aware of. You believe you heard everything but you miss a critical detail and wind up hospitalized.
Maybe you receive a warning about some hazardous activity from your physical therapist. You miss the advice and sustain a serious fall as a result.
It’s Particularly Difficult to Talk About Medical Data
Taking medical data in the proper context is particularly difficult. When you miss some piece of information as a result of your hearing loss, you make use of context to try to fill in what you missed. Compensating for hearing loss is something that your brain is in fact pretty good at. So good, in fact, that it might even convince you that you heard something you didn’t actually hear.
The meaning of a sentence can be completely altered, when addressing medical information, with something as basic as a “don’t” or “not”. One number misunderstood could completely change a dosage, a goal, or a danger zone.
In medical care the slightest details make a big difference. When those little details are missed, it can produce severe medical problems.
Having Your Hearing Loss Treated
If you have hearing loss, you could be missing needed medical advice. It’s time to deal with that and get your hearing back.
