Pharmacy Daily | Dr Google Aussies’ first port of call

ADDRESSING Australians' digital health literacy must be a priority, with patients turning to online sources before seeking advice from health professionals, Consumer Health Products Australia (CHP) believes.

The CHP's The Self-care Opportunity Report found that two-thirds of adults search online for common health conditions rather than visiting their local pharmacist or GP, with less than 10% saying they fully understand the information they find.

The report also found that close to a third of Australians considered their health literacy was low, while just over 20% rated their health literacy as being high.

With Australia in the grips of another COVID-19 wave, CHP CEO, Dr Deon Schoombie, said it was critical to boost health literacy.

"Self-care is much more than mindfulness and empowers people to take charge of their health with proactive steps like strong hygiene practices, knowing how to use medication responsibly and fostering strong health knowledge and skills," he said.

"Self-care not only helps prevent illness and improve health outcomes, it lifts the performance of our entire health system and saves on costs.

"The Self Care Opportunity Report clearly shows an urgent need to help Australians with digital health literacy - to know where to find, how to interpret, and how to use health information from online sources.

"This is very important as we can clearly see those with higher literacy levels have higher engagement in their health.

"We have an opportunity now to make a significant difference to our overall national health status by making a greater investment in self-care education, upskilling digital health literacy, and creating more verified and easy-to-access digital health sources."

While the report found that Australians were quick to turn to 'Dr Google' for health advice, more than 80% said they trusted GPs and pharmacists to provide guidance for managing short-term health conditions.