Organization
s that deal with patient care celebrate health literacy month every October as they recognize that health literacy is an important part of the care they provide to patients. For instance, if a patient does not know how to take their medication correctly, they can end up back in their doctor’s office or the hospital. Patient outcomes suffer and the cost of medical care rises. The goal of health literacy is to help individuals make informed health decisions by improving their ability to access, understand, and effectively use health information. It is important to emphasize to busy patient care providers that health literacy matters and the annual October celebration serves as a wonderful reminder of this often-overlooked aspect of good medical care.
The Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center offers workshops on Health Literacy every year. In addition, the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) is one of the few hospitals in the country that has an Health Literacy Office. UNMH’s Health Literacy Office provides workshops on teach-back and plain language methods of communication. In addition, they will review forms, policies and handouts for UNMH departments to make sure the documents meet suggested health literacy standards: https://unmhealth.org/diversity-equity-inclusion/health-literacy.html
If you would like to learn more about health literacy, there are many excellent websites on the Internet for you to browse. Here are a few:
National Institutes of Health: https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-communications-public-liaison/clear-communication/health-literacy
CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/index.html
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: https://health.gov/news/202010/october-health-literacy-month
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