Information Overload

The snow seemed like it would never stop falling here in DC…while getting a work-out in, shoveling, I pondered the information overload the capital area is currently experiencing. News channels have been running non-stop coverage of the storm since noon Friday with no sign that they are going to stop any time soon – how much, really, can be said about a lot of snow?!

With this on my mind, I was perusing the Sunday Washington Post a little early (online of course, there is no-way it’s getting delivered!) and there I found a book review of Medicine in Translation by Dr. Danielle Ofri. The book seems to chronicle the experiences of patients through the eyes of their physician (Dr. Ofri) and the physician’s experience working with a broken health care system and patients from an array of cultural backgrounds. Part of her job, as a physician, is to translate for her patients – to expand their “health literacy” with her knowledge of biomedicine and the system.

As a country, what resources do we have to be health literate? Are we experiencing information overload in an attempt to in fact be more informed? This past week, Oprah did a show on America’s Silent Killer: Diabetes. Diabetes, especially Type II, is a major and growing concern for Americans, there are nearly 80 million people with or on the verge of having it. Questions of cause and treatment aside, is Oprah spreading the word better than nothing?

A Harvard Poll, reported in a NY Times article, finds that the majority of Americans think the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic is over. They feel there is now no need to get vaccinated and that the whole thing was blown out of proportion. Do they think this because their doctors have told them it’s over or because it is no longer being reported on the news? On international health as well we are inundated with a variety of information – for example, the 2011 Federal budget has several budget cuts for global health programs – but it is often the filtered, bare minimum. Having public discussions about diabetes, health care, and global health is great, but finding the right mixture of information, translation, and literacy is hard. Hopefully, our health information overload isn’t making us illiterate.

*Image is author’s own.