Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
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54<br />
<strong>Health</strong> systems in transition <strong>Canada</strong><br />
2.9 Patient empowerment<br />
2.9.1 Patient in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
Most patients in <strong>Canada</strong> rely heavily on in<strong>for</strong>mation provided by their health<br />
care providers, in particular their family physicians as well as the specialist<br />
physicians to whom they are referred. This in<strong>for</strong>mation and advice is<br />
supplemented by in<strong>for</strong>mation provided by health care organizations, including<br />
hospitals, RHAs and province-wide programmes, particularly <strong>for</strong> the prevention,<br />
diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In the case of cancer, almost all provinces<br />
have patient navigation programmes. In some provinces, such as Nova Scotia<br />
and Quebec, cancer care navigators, most of whom are nurses, must have a<br />
minimal level of experience to be certified (Wackinshaw, 2011; Pederson &<br />
Hack, 2011).<br />
The Canadian Council on Literacy defines health literacy as the ability to<br />
obtain, understand and use health in<strong>for</strong>mation. According to Simach (2009),<br />
health literacy is a strong predictor of health status. Based on an International<br />
Adult Literacy and Skills Survey of 23 000 Canadians using the <strong>Health</strong> Activities<br />
Literacy Scale, which assesses literacy in terms of health promotion, health<br />
protection, disease prevention, health care maintenance and system navigation,<br />
roughly 60% of Canadians lack the capacity to obtain, understand and act on<br />
health in<strong>for</strong>mation and services to make appropriate health decisions (Canadian<br />
Council on Learning, 2007). Immigrants, particularly those who come from<br />
countries where the cultures and health systems differ greatly from those in<br />
<strong>Canada</strong>, as well as new immigrants whose first language is neither English nor<br />
French, have even lower health literacy than the already low Canadian mean<br />
(Ng & Omariba, 2010).<br />
There is a modest amount of accessible in<strong>for</strong>mation on the quality of health<br />
services in <strong>Canada</strong>. Since its creation in 2003, the <strong>Health</strong> Council of <strong>Canada</strong><br />
(HCC) has produced a number of reports, videos, podcasts and electronic<br />
newsletters aimed at the general public. The HCC has also focused on issues<br />
of patient and citizen engagement, including the engagement of Canadians in<br />
their own primary health care (HCC, 2011b). Although provincial health quality<br />
councils were established mainly to provide health ministries and RHAs with<br />
systematic advice on quality improvement, they have also served to in<strong>for</strong>m<br />
the public on key aspects of health care. In recent years, provincial ministries,<br />
quality councils and other organizations have provided more in<strong>for</strong>mation to the<br />
public on issues of great public interest including surgical waiting times and<br />
hospital report cards. Historically, Canadians received little direct in<strong>for</strong>mation