{"id":1973,"date":"2019-10-08T17:05:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T17:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/?page_id=1973"},"modified":"2019-10-08T17:38:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T17:38:59","slug":"2019-health-literacy-month","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/strategies-programs\/healthcare-equity\/hcetoolkit\/healthcare-equity-related-commemorations\/2019-health-literacy-month\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Health Literacy Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health Literacy Month<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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Photo Credit: Shutterstock ID 483372283<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

October is Health Literacy Month.\u00a0 According to the Institute for Healthcare Advancement<\/a>, the purpose of health literacy month is \u201ca time of observance when hospitals, health centers, literacy programs, libraries, social service agencies, businesses, professional associations, government agencies, consumer alliances, and many other groups can work collaboratively to draw more attention to, and develop local capacity for, addressing [health literacy issues].\u201d<\/p>\n

In our operationalizing UW Medicine\u2019s Healthcare Equity Blueprint<\/em><\/a>, the UW Medicine Healthcare Equity (UWM HCE) team is focused on supporting our workforce in better understanding how health literacy issues manifest during patient encounters. UWM HCE also strives to provide our colleagues with readily accessible tools to overcome patients\u2019 health literacy barriers and improve patients\u2019 experiences overall.<\/p>\n

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What is health literacy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Health literacy is \u201cthe degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions\u201d offers the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A measure of a person\u2019s health literacy can be assessed by their ability to read and comprehend vital healthcare-related materials such as prescription bottles, appointment reminders, and digitized platforms such as MyChart.<\/p>\n

The problem of health literacy and its negative impacts of healthcare outcomes cannot be understated. Only 12% of adults in the United States are highly proficient when it comes to health literacy.\u00a0 Lara Killian and Margo Coletti explains more in their American Medical Association Journal of Ethics article entitled The Role of Universal Health Literacy Precautions in Minimizing \u201cMedspeak\u201d and Promoting Shared Decision Making<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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How is one\u2019s overall literacy related to their health literacy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The relationship between a person\u2019s overall literacy and their health literacy is a multifaceted one.\u00a0 A patient may have high overall literacy levels and struggle to understand healthcare related information. Low health literacy involves more than an inability to clearly understand text. It can impact one\u2019s ability to make the most ideal healthcare decisions in multiple situations. Lastly, a person can exhibit high verbal fluency<\/a> \u2013 which makes detecting health literacy problems that more difficult for healthcare providers and others who facilitate healthcare services delivery.<\/p>\n

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In which ways can a health system like UW Medicine impact health literacy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: UW Medicine Photo Library<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The suggestions shown below were compiled from Kevin B. O\u2019Reilly\u2019s<\/a> 2017 article<\/a> in the Patient Support & Advocacy section of the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Health Literacy Precautions Toolkit<\/a><\/em> published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).<\/p>\n

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  1. Cease use of Medspeak \u2013 medical, public health and other forms of jargon \u2013 which can impede shared decision making between patients and their healthcare provider. Is it necessary to use terms such as \u201cagent\u201d or \u201cpathogen\u201d when communicating to patients?<\/li>\n
  2. Receive everyone irrespective of their health condition with a welcoming attitude.<\/li>\n
  3. Make appropriate eye contact throughout the entire patient visit.<\/li>\n
  4. Refrain from interrupting patients while they speak. Pay attention and respond to issues they raise\/questions they pose.<\/li>\n
  5. Be cognizant of the words patients use to describe their health condition(s) \u2013 use the same words in offering your input.<\/li>\n
  6. Speak to patients in a non-condescending, non-patronizing, and clear tone. Speak at a moderate pace.<\/li>\n
  7. Only express information that is absolutely necessary \u2013 limiting information to three to five points. Repeat them.<\/li>\n
  8. Avoid vague and subjective terms that can be misconstrued.<\/li>\n
  9. Make use of visual aids to demonstrate important concepts<\/li>\n
  10. Demonstrate the instructions you are providing patients \u2013 such as how to apply, imbibe, or ingest medication correctly.<\/li>\n
  11. Use appropriate body language \u2013 sit (at same level as patient), don\u2019t stand.<\/li>\n
  12. Look and listen \u2013 look at patient while speaking not at the chart, computer, phone, tablet, or other device.<\/li>\n
  13. Ensure you are presenting yourself as having time and interest in conversing with the patient \u2013 opposed to appearing hurried or preoccupied.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Encourage patients to ask questions. Consider inviting them to converse by saying:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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    1. What questions do you have?<\/li>\n
    2. We discussed a lot of information. What would you like to review?<\/li>\n
    3. [Diagnosis] may be new to you and I expect you have some questions. Which of the things we covered would you like to discuss?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      Return to Healthcare Equity Homepage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Health Literacy Month October is Health Literacy Month.\u00a0 According to the Institute for Healthcare Advancement, the purpose of health literacy month is \u201ca time of observance when hospitals, health centers, literacy programs, libraries, social service agencies, businesses, professional associations, government agencies, consumer alliances, and many other groups can work collaboratively to draw more attention to,…<\/p>\n

      Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"parent":1793,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1973"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1987,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1973\/revisions\/1987"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}