Low literacy levels can increase the potential for miscommunication in the healthcare environment.

This miscommunication leads to additional hospital and office visits, longer hospital stays, extra tests, procedures, and prescriptions. US research shows that only about 50% of all patients take medications as directed which puts an unnecessary strain on hospitals resources and finances.

Further statistics demonstrate this strain on the health service. For instance, patients with low literacy skills have been observed to have a 50% increased risk of hospitalisation, compared with patients who had adequate literacy skills.

Those with low health literacy may find many aspects of the healthcare environment daunting and, as a result, they do not receive important health information. For example, research has shown patients:

• Often misunderstand their diagnosis based on a lack of understanding of complex medical terms.
• Find it difficult to navigate a hospital due to unclear signage.
• Are unable to read or understand long winded or complex information on medication packaging.

US research demonstrates that among 659 public hospital patients, those with poor health literacy skills were five times more likely to misinterpret their prescriptions than those with adequate skills.