Assignment 1

To prepare

• Review the Learning Resources dealing with the security of digital health care information. Reflect on your own organization or one with which you are familiar, and think about how health information stored electronically is protected.
• Consider the nurse’s responsibility to ensure the protection of patient information. What strategies can you use?
• Reflect on ethical issues that are likely to arise with the increased access to newer, smaller, and more powerful technology tools.
• Consider strategies that can be implemented to ensure that the use of HIT contributes to an overall culture of safety.

Post an analysis of the nurse’s responsibility to protect patient information and the extent that HIT has made it easier or more difficult to protect patient privacy. Comment on any security or ethical issues related to the use of portable devices to store information. Assess the strategies your organization uses to safeguard patient information and how these promote a culture of safety. Describe an area where improvement is needed and one strategy that could address the situation.

Assignment 2

To prepare:

• Think about the nurse’s role in improving the health literacy of patients.
• Consider the many ways patients access health information, including blogs, social media, patient portals, websites, etc.
• Reflect on experiences you have had with patients who self-diagnose using online medical sources.
• Using the Internet, the Walden Library, or other trustworthy sources, identify a resource that you could introduce to patients to help them evaluate the credibility of health information found online.
• What are some strategies you could employ to improve the health literacy of patients?

Post your assessment of the nurse’s role in improving the health literacy of patients. Then, identify the resource you would recommend to patients for evaluating online health information and why it would be beneficial. Describe additional strategies for assisting patients in becoming informed consumers of online health information.

Assignment 3

Assignment: Health Information Patient Handout

One of the pivotal goals of consumer health literacy efforts is to design educational materials that attract as well as educate users. In this Assignment, you design a health information document on a topic that is of interest to you.

To prepare:

• Select a health issue of interest to you.
• Identify the audience or population that you seek to educate about this issue.
• Search the Internet to find credible sites containing information about your selected topic.
• Review the two health literacy websites listed in this week’s Learning Resources. Focus on strategies for presenting information.

To complete:

• Design an educational handout on the health issue you selected.
  • Include a cover page.
  • Include an introduction that provides:
    • An explanation of your issue and why you selected it
    • A description of the audience you are addressing
  • In the handout itself:
    • Develop your handout in such a way that it attracts the attention of the intended audience.
    • Include a description of the health issue and additional content that will enhance your message (i.e., key terms and definitions, graphics, illustrations, etc.).
    • Recommend four or five sites that provide clear, valuable, and reliable information on the topic.