Everything You Need to Know About Health Literacy, You Learned in Kindergarten

Casey Quinlan I admit that this headline is fiction, not fact. However, I strongly believe that health literacy must be part of the K-12 curriculum in all schools, in the US and globally. Here’s why I hold that belief, and an outline for how we can make it happen. The current mental map of the health care system that the average person has is that health care is something that happens “over there, to sick people, but not to me, because I’m not sick.” Then, when they do get sick, they’re flung against the health care delivery system—what I call the medical-industrial complex—while sick and/or in pain, which isn’t a recipe for quick uptake on a steep learning curve. People arrive at the doors of the medical-industrial complex with little understanding of how to successfully interact with that system. And, speaking of systems, most people also don’t have a firm grasp on how the system in their own body works. Enter my proposition for K-12 health literacy embedded in the curriculum. Here’s an opportunity to empower people to fully participate in their health, their health care, and living their lives to the fullest. Kids are inherently curious about their bodies and how they work. I’d be willing to bet that every single person reading this has at least one memory of “playing doctor” as a kid. How much more fun—and powerful/empowering—would it be for kids in kindergarten to start learning biology using their own bodies as textbooks? There are apps for...
Source: Society for Participatory Medicine - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Newsletter e-patients empowered patient K-12 Health Literacy learning exchange Medical Education Curriculum participatory medicine Patient engagement Patient Involvement Source Type: news