Making Number Make Sense: Exploring Strategies to Convey

Quantity, Time, and Risk

Helen Osborne, M.Ed., OTR/LHealth Literacy Consulting

www.healthliteracy.com

“Mrs. Jones is on a modified diet and must restrict her intake of both sweet and salted foods. She takes six different medications, each with its own dosing schedule. She needs to monitor and record how she feels each day and notify her providers when there are significant changes in her health. She also needs to make and keep numerous outpatient appointments and prepare for an ongoing battery of medical tests.”

What numeracy tasks do we expect that Mrs. Jones can, and will correctly, do?

“Mrs. Jones is on a modified diet and must restrict her intake of both sweet and salted foods. She takes six different medications, each with its own dosing schedule. She needs to monitor and record how she feels each day and notify her providers when there are significant changes in her health. She also needs to make and keep numerous outpatient appointments and prepare for an ongoing battery of medical tests.”

Quantity & Calculations

http://www.sugarstacks.com/

Visual Comparisons

Portions: About the Size of… 1 oz. meat Matchbox3 oz. meat Deck of cards or soap bar8 oz. meat Thin paperback book

1 oz. cheese 4 diceMedium potato Computer mouse

2 Tbs. peanut butter Ping pong ball½ cup pasta Tennis ball

Average bagel Hockey puck

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_3_2x_Portion_Control.asp

Wong Baker Faces Pain Scale

http://www.painknowledge.org/physiciantools/opioid_toolkit/components/Wong-Baker_Scale.pdf

DoloTest: Providing a clear picture of painwww.dolotest.com

100 + 100.2 + 102 =

100 100.2

+102

< >≠ ± ÷ ∗

Time

Analog or Digital?

http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/pillcard/pillcard.htm#Template

AHRQ’s Pill Card Template

Passage of time

Risk & Comparative Data

“Pie” chart

“Doughnut” chart

www.mhqp.org

To learn more:

• helen@healthliteracy.com

• www.healthliteracy.com

• www.healthliteracyoutloud.com