Age really does a number on your ability to perform even the most basic tasks, some of which become increasingly necessary as you get older. For instance, according to a new study from Northwestern University published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and reported by Gizmodo, many Millennials and Gen Xers (people between the ages of 35 and 64) are having real trouble navigating the complexities of at-home healthcare.
The study of around a thousand adults receiving care in the Chicago area found that nearly 1 in 3 had little to no health literacy, meaning that a huge chunk of middle-aged Americans were struggling to complete tasks that healthcare providers just assume people can handle well enough on their own.
Researchers asked study participants to perform some of the basic tasks of personal healthcare, like interpreting the instructions on prescription labels, reviewing medical materials, and recalling instructions from a simulated doctor visit.
Additionally, they tested out people’s ability to manage medications using multiple pill bottles, each with different instructions. A lot of participants screwed up their dosages, overlooked important warnings, or struggled to properly organize their medications throughout the day.
It’s Not Just Old People, It’s Us Young(ish) People Too
The commonly accepted idea was that the only people out there struggling with health literacy were old people whose brains were on the decline. This study suggests that maybe the problem is starting a lot sooner than everyone suspected. But the researchers don’t put the blame on us. The healthcare system just doesn’t know how to communicate in easily digestible language, or even consistent language.
The researchers found that medication instructions can vary from one pharmacy or doctor to another, with the instructions themselves being written in stuffy, complicated language that can be difficult to parse.
Researchers call for the simplification of healthcare communication to prevent mistakes and improve outcomes, something that is long overdue, as the system itself has gone a long time thinking it’s doing everything right when men couldn’t be further from the truth.
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