Am I smarter than a fifth grader?
I didn't expect any red marks!
Nope. But hey, since I don't do the game show circuit for a living, the ability to respond to questions about obscure or not so obscure facts is not a top priority. But having the skills to ensure patient safety (especially when I am the patient or recipient of services) by preventing medical errors (more especially when you are the healthcare professional or provider of services), now that's a priority I can wrap my brain around. Health literacy, especially as it relates to patient safety, is a pretty hot topic. And whose literacy is always in question? Why, it's the patient's, of course. How refreshing to follow a tweet and find that in the UK, folks at the National Health Service (NHS) North West Strategic Health Authority think it's important to assess literacy/numeracy skills of aspiring healthcare professionals.
This very brief article Online assessment in numeracy set to improve patient safety in Nursing Times cites the results of a survey in which 87% of users thought the NHS assessment would improve patient safety. The article further pointed out that...
...despite the fact that the ability to make accurate calculations is an essential skill for all healthcare professionals to ensure patient safety, it is possible to attain a senior clinical role without ever taking a numeracy assessment.
So, even though I can't actually harm anyone (by accident) where I work, I thought I'd assess my own skills. Here are a few things I learned:
- I don't speak English; I speak American, and "realisation" is not misspelled
- My literacy skills are Level 2, and if the senate and congress continue to beg to differ on reforming healthcare, I can use other NHS resources to see how my skills match healthcare jobs in England, Scotland and other crown holdings
- It's probably a good thing that my computer froze during the numeracy test, as I have no idea if a penny is the same as a pence; I was only guessing that there might be 100 pence in a pound (the 'L' symbol with squiggly line through it)
- I might want to get my hearing checked, since my incorrect answers on the literacy portion involved listening/attending to an audio clip
But seriously, even though screening for literacy/numeracy skills seems like a good thing to do and people think it would improve patient safety, I know more than a few sticklers who'll want to see some evidence.
It was a little tricky finding the tool, so click on this handy dandy link if you'd like to try it out. C'mon what's one more assessment.
