Developing Awareness of Digital Health Literacy in Healthcare Students

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 defines health literacy as the “degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015, para 1). Nearly 50% of Americans have issues with low health literacy, which can lead to negative health outcomes (Institute of Medicine, 2004), a form of health literacy called “digital” health literacy (eHealth), is defined as the “ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to addressing or solving a health problem” (World Health Organization, 2017, slide 8). This emphasizes patient engagement and partnership in managing their own healthcare. Unfortunately, there is often a digital divide; Levy, Janke, and Langa (2015) found that only 9.7% of older adult patients with low health literacy used the Internet to obtain health information.

To meet the goals of Healthy People 2020, digital health literacy needs to part of the curriculum for healthcare programs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Implications for educators include the need to create learning activities that promote awareness and competence in digital health literacy, both for patient care and to educate patients in digital resources. Examples of student learning activities include creating personal health records, accessing patient portals, analyzing the reading level and accuracy of web-based resources, knowledge of health software applications (apps), and experience in assisting patients to utilize digital resources.