[The Role of Nurses in Bridging the Health Literacy Gap: Empowering Patients in the Post-Pandemic Era].

ABSTRACT

Health literacy (HL) is an essential ability used by people throughout life to access, understand, appraise, and apply health related information and services and is widely recognized as a key determinant of health. HL has been the focus of increasing international attention in the 21st century, with the World Health Organization identifying HL as a 2030 sustainable development target (World Health Organization, 2016). "Strengthening health communication and improving HL nationwide" is also an issue targeted in a Taiwan government white paper for improvement by 2025. Key related actions and strategies noted in this paper include investigating the HL of each life course; disseminating accurate, easy-to-access, and implementable health and safety information; improving the public's awareness and use of mobile tools; using multiple marketing models (public, organization, interpersonal communication); combining cloud technology to develop a health management system; setting up websites; providing cloud care; and developing other e-media (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2016). The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly challenged the global healthcare system as well as individual health. Due to the difficulties and uncertainties associated with emerging diseases, updating regularly changing information in a timely manner is not easy. Ensuring public access to and application of updated information is a key challenge to improving public HL. Abel & McQueen (2020) pointed out that "critical health literacy", the ability of individuals to reflect on complex health issues and critically evaluate available information, will be the key to promoting and enhancing healthy behaviors in response to emerging diseases. Taiwan is rapidly moving toward becoming a super-aged society, at which time frail older adults, individuals with dementia, and individuals with disabilities and multiple chronic diseases are expected to be the primary targets of healthcare system services. During the pandemic, many individuals in vulnerable groups died quickly due to COVID-19-related severe illnesses, leaving their families with insufficient time to respond and adjust. This experience highlights the importance of palliative and end-of-life care communication with clients and of permitting family members to grieve. In addition, disease control measures such as isolation, wearing masks, and reducing visits to patients have also affected communication between people, widening the distance between patients, their families, and healthcare professionals. This experience has made us reflect on how to better use online and mobile tools to support self-care for patients and their families. In this issue, Professor Li first expounds on promoting HL in the elderly through the use of health education strategies such as formulating public policies related to HL, adjusting the orientation of health services, constructing a friendly environment for HL information dissemination, strengthening community resources for HL education, and promoting geriatric learning and shared decision-making. Professor Wu encourages nurses in long-term care facilities to apply the U-R-PEACE strategy to promote understanding, respect, planning, expression, act, care, and education in a manner that facilitates effective palliative care communication with patients and their families as early as possible. Because dementia care relies heavily on family caregivers, Professor Luo suggests using family-caregiver-created and managed Facebook groups to share health information and facilitate social support, shedding light on how to use social media to effectively empower caregivers. Interactions between patients and healthcare professionals are critical to effective healthcare delivery. The unequal power dynamic between physicians and patients may lead to communication conflicts, especially as generational replacement progresses and public health awareness improves. Facing the differences between these two interest groups, Professor Ye suggest nurses handle conflicts proactively by increasing their emotional drive to address disagreements, enhancing their cognitive abilities to handle interpersonal dynamics, and engaging actively in communicative measures.