The effect of emergency department history on health literacy level and role of digital literacy: An observational study

In this research, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of emergency department history on health literacy level and the role of digital literacy. A total of 454 participants were subjected to survey including health literacy scale, the digital literacy scale, and the demographic information form. Participants were divided into 2 groups as emergency medicine service (EMS) history (n = 269) and no EMS history (n = 185) groups. Health literacy, attitude, cognitive, and total digital literacy level of EMS history group were significantly higher than no EMS history group ( P < .05). Social dimension of digital literacy scale was significantly higher in no EMS history group ( P < .05). In no EMS history group, health literacy was significantly correlated with attitude ( r = 0.298; P < .01), technical ( r = 0.157; P < .01), cognitive ( r = 0.369; P < .01), social ( r = −0.302; P < .01) dimensions, and total score of digital literacy ( r = 0.213; P < .01). In EMS history group, health literacy was significantly correlated with attitude ( r = 0.553; P < .01), technical ( r = 0.488; P < .01), cognitive ( r = 0.555; P < .01) dimensions, and total score of digital literacy ( r = 0.514; P < .01). Digital literacy had significant and positive effect on health literacy for all participants (OR = 0.126; P < .01), no EMS history (OR = 0.059; P < .01) and EMS history group (OR = 0.191; P < .01). People’s health literacy skills are positively impacted if they have ever received medical attention from EMS units, regardless of the reason. Furthermore, among those who have used emergency medical services in the past, the impact of digital literacy on health literacy is statistically substantially larger.