An important part of being an informed patient and taking a patient-centered approach to care is being health literate and understanding what health literacy is.
Health Literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. (Healthy People 2010)
People can be highly educated, but know very little about their own body or health.
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Understanding health literacy : implications for medicine and public health / editors, Joanne C. Schwartzberg, Jonathan B. VanGeest, Claire C. Wang ; section editors, Julie A. Gazmararian ... [et al.] Chicago, Il. American Medical Association. 2005. (Available at HSLIC at WA 590 U44 2005 or for purchase at the AMA at http://www.ama-assn.org). |
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This guide was created by a Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center staff member and is licensed by the Health Science Library and Informatics Center of the University of New Mexico under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
