Essential health information is missed by about 43% of patients who are 60 or older, as reported by recent research. At a time when heeding medical advice is so essential, patients could be missing major details related to their care.
There is a Global Hearing Epidemic
Hearing loss isn’t a small problem. Worldwide, a third of people who are 65 or older have debilitating hearing loss.
If we delve further, we discover that shockingly only around 30% of those same senior citizens who suffer with hearing loss have, or make use of, solutions that would benefit their hearing. This pattern isn’t good news for medical care as we’ll show next.
The Value of Communication in Medical Care
A major cause of death is medical error and miscommunication is a primary cause of medical error. A study from Harvard revealed that up to 37% of serious injuries that were caused by medical errors could have been prevented with improved communication. An improved ability to communicate crucial information with patients could save lives.
How Hearing Loss Effects Medical Care
When you are talking to pharmacists, nurses, or doctors there is some information you won’t want to miss so let’s not linger on statistics.
When it comes to reaching health objectives, the advice of health care professionals is a vital factor. Maybe they’re explaining healthy insulin or blood pressure levels. There are some things that can harm you if they are not managed in a way that your health care professional advises. Dealing with your condition could get away from you if you miss important advice.
These medical professionals may explain danger zones that reveal that you need medical care. You might not get the assistance that you need because you didn’t completely comprehend what your doctor was saying.
Your pharmacist might try to warn you about harmful side effects or drug interactions. You think you heard everything but you lose a critical detail and end up in the hospital.
Perhaps you get a warning against doing some dangerous activity from your physical therapist. You could suffer a severe fall because you missed that advice.
Why Communicating Medical Information is Particularly Demanding
Taking medical data in the proper context is particularly challenging. When you suffer from hearing loss, you utilize context to “fill in the blanks” where you missed something. Your brain is in fact very good at compensating for hearing loss. So good, actually, that it could even make you believe that you heard something you didn’t actually hear.
With medical information something as small as a “don’t” or “not” can totally alter the meaning of a sentence. One number misunderstood could completely change a dosage, a goal, or a danger zone.
In medical care the slightest details matter. Missing them has been shown to result in medical errors.
Having Your Hearing Loss Addressed
You could be missing essential medical advice if you suffer from hearing loss. It’s time to do something about that and get your hearing back.