Personal and Consumer Health

1. Personal and Consumer Health

2. Objectives • Demonstrate the ability to access and describe health information, health products, and health services in order to become health literate consumers. • Demonstrate the ability to identify how health behaviors and use of health services are influenced by diversity.

3. Objective 1:What issociety’s responsibility for maintaining and improving the quality and availability of health care? Who are the Healthcare Providers? • Health clinics • Physicians • Medicaid/Medicare • Governmental agencies • Community based organizations

4. Objective 1: Becoming Health Literate • Look through a Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) • Always compare several over-the-counter or prescription drugs that are in the same category (for example: compare two or more cough medicines, two or more fever or pain-reducing medicines) • Compare side-effects and complications • Compare product labeling and advertisement to information found in the PDR

5. Objective 1:Consider the following points: • Product effectiveness: Is one product more effective than other products? What research has been conducted to support product effectiveness claims? • Side-effects: Does one product have fewer side effects than other products? • Dose-amount, frequency, method (by mouth, by injection): Is one product more convenient to use than the other products? • Special instructions, precautions-take with food, keep refrigerated, avoid use of certain types of other medications: Is one product more appropriate for you to use than the other products? • Cost: Is one product cheaper than other products, yet does it compare well on the above considerations?

6. Objective 1: Elements of a Health Care System In order to provide services for the full range of health care needs that exist in a community, a wide spectrum of care is needed. Patients move in and out and through this spectrum of services based on their current need or anticipated health needs. One way of viewing the health care system is by looking at the level of care needed by the patient and the settings and providers that have developed to provide that care. The current system that has evolved throughout the Twentieth Century is now in a period of rapid change, due to the high cost of health care and rapidly developing technologies. Technological advances have resulted in new services and settings for care. For example, as a result of the new X-ray technology, diagnostic centers have developed to do heart scans. Changes in the way health care services are financed have also resulted in new settings for care. For example, free-standing centers (not attached to a hospital) have developed to provide diagnostic services (tests, lab work, x-rays, etc.) that were once only available in the hospital.

7. Elements of a Health Care System (2) As an example of both technological and financing changes in health care, free-standing surgery centers now exist for many types of surgeries that were once done only in a hospital setting. Outpatient or non-hospital based services are cheaper than are services provided in a hospital setting. More and more services that are now provided in a hospital setting will likely move to a non-hospital setting as technology progresses and health care costs must be contained. Who Are You Going to Call? Given the recent changes in health care services and settings, it can be confusing to know where to "enter" the health care system-where to go to get just the right amount of care needed. Where you go is often determined by what's available in the community or how the service will be paid for-"out of your pocket" or by an insurance company.

8. Objective 2: How are health behaviors and the use of health services influenced by diversity? Factors of Diversity • Family traditions • Social/cultural customs • Religious beliefs • Geographic locations (access to services) • Economic status

9. Diversity in Personal Health Care Choices Conventional medical treatments are the standard (mainstream) medical treatments used by most physicians. They have been scientifically tested and found to be both safe and effective. The result of such research is reported in professional journals (for physicians, scientists), which are reviewed by other doctors or scientists in the field (peer review). These conventional treatment methods have also been reviewed and approved by the federal government through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Investigational treatments are still being studied in a "clinical trial," a research project that may take years to complete. Clinical trials use the scientific process to determine whether a treatment is safe and effective. A treatment may be a drug or another method of treating disease in human beings. Before it can even be tested in humans, though, a treatment is tested in the laboratory, then on animals, then, if it is determined to be safe, it is tested on humans. If it is verified to be safe, the FDA approves its use in medical care. Alternative therapy is treatment that is promoted as a cure, yet has not been scientifically tested, or if tested, was found to be ineffective. Alternative therapies are usually promoted by those not in the medical profession. Such therapies place patients at risk because they may not be safe, and their use may keep people from using conventional treatment that could be helpful.

10. Diversity in Personal Health Care Choices (2) Complementary therapy are supportive methods used in addition to mainstream conventional therapy. These methods are not intended to cure disease but to help manage symptoms. Examples of complementary therapy include meditation, herbal teas, etc. Quackery refers to claims of cure or prevention of diseases that have no scientific basis or are known to be false. Personal Decision Making 1. Safety - Will it hurt you? 2. Effectiveness - Will it help you? 3. What are its claims? (Does it claim to "cure"?) 4. What are the credentials of those who promote it? 5. How is it promoted?