How to Use the Newest Vital Signs

4/29/2013

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How to Use the Newest Vital Signs

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Sample illustration for interpretation by Patient to complete the Newest Vital Sign screening for health literacy Photo Credits: www.medscape.com
How To Use the Newest Vital Sign

1. Who and when to administer the Newest Vital Sign?

           A nurse (or other trained clinic staff) is the preferred administrator of the Newest Vital Sign.

           Administer at the same time that other vital signs are being taken. 


2. Ask the patient to participate.
A useful way to ask the patient is an explanation similar to this:
“We are asking our patients to help us learn how well patients can understand the 
medical information that doctors give them. Would you be willing to help us by 
looking at some health information and then answering a few questions about that 
information? Your answers will help our doctors learn how to provide medical 
information in ways that patients will understand. It will only take about 3 minutes.”
3. Hand the nutrition label to the patient.
The patient can and should retain the nutrition label throughout administration of the 
Newest Vital Sign. The patient can refer to the label as often as desired.
More…
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Newest Vital Sign: Questions to Ask (Health Literacy Part IV)

9/3/2012

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Questions to Ask for Newest Vital Sign http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/
The Newest Vital Sign developed by Pfizer along with experts of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. The NVS is designed as a questionnaire with a picture of a Nutrition Label at the back of a pint of ice cream. Patients are asked to interpret what it is.

See Picture of the Nutrition Label used for the test.

The questions asked are the following:

  1. If you eat the entire container, how many calories will you eat? 
  2. If you are allowed to eat 60 grams of carbohydrates as a snack, how much ice cream would you have?
  3. Your doctor advises you to reduce the amount of staturated fat in your diet. you usually have 42 grams of saturated fact each day, which includes one serving of ice cream. If you stop eating ice cream, how many grams saturated fat would you be consuming each day?
  4. If you usually eat 2500 calories in a day, what percentage of your daily value of calories will you be eating if you eat one serving?


The right answers to these questions should be the following

For the first question: 1000

For the second question: Any of the following is correct---1 cup (or any amount up to 1 cup), half the container. (Be sure to clarify if the patient answers "two serving". Ask "How much ice cream would that be if you were to measure it into a bowl?")

For the Third question: 33

For the fourth question: 10%


Once you are through with these four questions, read to the patient or subject the following:

Pretend that you are allergic to the following substances: penicillin, peanuts, latex gloves, and bee stings.

5. Is it safe for you to eat this ice cream?

6. (Ask only if the patient responds "no" to question 5): Why not?

The fifth question should have a "No" answer to qualify as correct.

Lastly, the sixth question should have a correct answer similar to "because it has peanut oil".


Tally the number of correct answers.

Scores of 0-1 suggests high likelihood (50% or more) of limited literacy.
Scores of 2-3 indicates the possibility of limited literacy.
Scores of 4-6 almost always indicates adequate literacy.






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Health Literacy (Part II)

9/19/2011

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Health Literacy http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2713/
The Philippine literacy rate reported in the United States CIA Factbook appears high at 92.6% for the general population above 15 years old wherein 92.5% are considered literate and 92.7% of Filipinas fit the criteria.

What belies this fact is the way this data was gathered. Apparently, the definition of literacy is simply the ability to read and write.

I have seen mothers apprehensive of writing their name or that of their child in the medical record form simply because they cannot write well. At times they compensate for this shortcoming by scolding their child for not writing very well.

Other patients appear to breeze through the whole consultation process with concealed difficulty illiteracy. But undeniably, after seeing thousands of patients, one can tell from the look in their eyes and expression in their faces. Assistance is readily shared in this case.

The most immediate consequence of illiteracy is poor compliance to medication. Patients who cannot read nor write down notes concerning medication instructions will most likely missed the schedule for taking medications. Worst is to take the wrong medicine, with wrong quantity and wrong route of administration.

To the chagrin of the doctor, they might be wrongly attributed for failing to get the patient to the road to wellness when the problem lies on literacy.

Health literacy, on the other hand, takes the definition of plain literacy to a higher level of cognitive function and social skills. Health literacy is the ability of an individual to understand basic health science built on common health vocabularly and the ability to navigate through the health care system. This basic knowledge is necessary in order to make better informed decision concerning their health.


Many people do not know how the body works and what the medication is for. Understanding any verbal instructions and repeating what is written in the prescription pad can be difficult during the consultation period.


At the onset, the patient is already anxious about the whole consultation process. Hearing about their condition and what is “wrong” in their body can raise their stress level. With anxiety and stress level rising, their ability to listen actively, remember and comprehend what the doctor is saying can be seriously impaired. This may not be obvious to the doctor and the patient may not even notice this.

A key to bridging the gap between the doctor and patient concerning effective interaction is a relax environment where assistance concerning their needs are readily provided with due respect and utmost care.

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