*TS: Promoting Understanding: Strategies for Improving Patient and Family Health Literacy[®] [REF: LDR, PtAd] The Source, February 2014, Vol 12, #2, Pg 1  JCs1402_b2

Key aspects of Health Literacy are addressed by RI.01.01.03 and PC.02.01.21.  As you might expect, poor or low health literacy can have a negative effect on the quality and outcomes of care.  Just think of patients who do not understand their medications and/or do not communicate about their side effects. The article reveals a number of facts relevant to health literacy such as:

•  “cognitive science dictates that education materials should only aim to teach 4 to 7 things at a time” if they are to be well learned.
• The average American reads at the 8th-9th grade level (with 20% reading below 5th grade), but apparently many educational materials are written at the 10th grade level.  

These facts strongly suggest an opportunity for improving health literacy by refining patient educational materials:  Break multi-page documents into smaller sections that address the key (i.r., 4-7) learning points in a language and at a level appropriate to your population.  Consider using a small focus group of your organization’s typical patients to review your educational materials for language and level.

Tip: Go to Readability-Score.com and paste in text from your patient education materials to receive a free assessment of the reading level.  This article’s average grade level was 10.3. This review averaged 9.2. 

Key Def: “The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (Ratzan and Parker, 2000 – Institute of Medicine Report Brief: Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion (366 pages – Committee on Health Literacy, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies)

See also:  Comments attached to this article for additional details/references