Improving Health Literacy by https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt en-us 2023-06-04 01:03:20 UTC 2023-06-04 14:29:56 UTC hello@padlet.com Health Literacy: kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613732266
  • Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
  • Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
  • Health equity is the attainment of the highest level of health for all people. 

    • Source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/index.html
    ]]>     2023-06-04 01:08:35 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613732266     Factors that Contribute to Poor Health Literacy kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613732325 Poor Health Literacy has been correlated to:
    - low literacy and numeracy
    - low education
    - low socioeconomic status
    - disability
    - poor health outcomes

    Shahid, R., Shoker, M., Chu, L. M., Frehlick, R., Ward, H., & Pahwa, P. (2022). Impact of low health literacy on patients' health outcomes: a multicenter cohort study. BMC health services research, 22(1), 1148. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08527-9 ]]>     2023-06-04 01:09:03 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613732325     kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613732716 Boston Medical Spanish Center has a partnership with the IHP and offers a 5-week course for less than $200]]> 2023-06-04 01:11:34 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613732716 Check Your Clinic Materials for Readability kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733161 Make sure the materials you're giving to patients are at a reading level they can understand. The average American reads at a 7th or 8th grade reading level, however, around 54% of Americans have a literacy below a 6th grade reading level.  ]]> 2023-06-04 01:14:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733161 Advocate to Add Health Literacy into School Curriculums kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733489 Advocate at the local level to include health literacy information in school curriculums. The CDC provides example curriculums starting at the kindergarten level all the way through high school. At the national level, advocate for health literacy to be a mandated part of public school curriculum nationwide.

    Courses such as the one linked above are designed to teach students basic health literacy and can be delivered in person, online, as a lesson, or as an after school assignment. ]]>     2023-06-04 01:16:29 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733489     Support Funding for ESL Programs kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733703 Supporting funding for school and community based ESL programs help non-native English speakers gain access to materials that are only available in English. The earlier, the better! Tying these programs to a health literacy curriculum has shown to be effective in increasing health literacy and patient outcomes.

    Community based ESL programs work towards increasing non-native English speakers' access to their community while we simultaneously work to make information more widely available in the primary language of our community.

    Soto Mas, F., Ji, M., Fuentes, B. O., & Tinajero, J. (2015). The Health Literacy and ESL study: a community-based intervention for Spanish-speaking adults. Journal of health communication, 20(4), 369–376. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2014.965368]]>     2023-06-04 01:17:38 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733703     Take the Time to Make Sure Patients Understand Their Care kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733903 Doing something as simple as using teach back methods during treatment or taking the time to repeat information to a patient can make a large difference in how patients understand their care. Being nonjudgemental and patient promotes a welcoming and safe environment for patients that may have anxieties surrounding healthcare due to low health literacy, and in research has been shown to improve health outcomes.

    Tavakoly Sany SB, Behzhad F, Ferns G, Peyman N. Communication skills training for physicians improves health literacy and medical outcomes among patients with hypertension: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020 Jan 23;20(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-4901-8. PMID: 31973765; PMCID: PMC6979365.]]>     2023-06-04 01:18:55 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733903     Consequences of Poor Health Literacy kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733977 - nearly 1 million hospital visits can be prevented by improving health literacy
    - poor health literacy is correlated with higher rates of morbidity and mortality
    - it is estimated poor health literacy costs the US nearly $25 billion a year]]>     2023-06-04 01:19:18 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613733977     Learn about your community's health literacy using this Health Literacy Map: kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613734137 2023-06-04 01:20:20 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613734137 Support Diverse Individuals in Healthcare (Starting With Funding Public School Systems) kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613734640 Patients feel the most comfortable when their healthcare providers speak the same language. The more diverse we make the healthcare profession, the more access to diverse providers patients will have.

    Starting with supporting a diverse student population by funding public school systems adequately and appropriately leads to more students prepared to pursue a career in healthcare.

    Lopez Vera, A., Thomas, K., Trinh, C., & Nausheen, F. (2023). A Case Study of the Impact of Language Concordance on Patient Care, Satisfaction, and Comfort with Sharing Sensitive Information During Medical Care. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 1–9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01463-8]]>     2023-06-04 01:23:20 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613734640     Be Thoughtful When Creating Resources kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613737248 Make sure that clinical materials are designed with their target audience in mind. Tools such as this "Understand Your Audience" article from the CDC helps to advise the creation of health materials with health literacy in mind.

    Additionally, make sure resources for your target audience are in the appropriate language. Most interpreter service information is only provided in English, which defeats the purpose!]]>     2023-06-04 01:37:48 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613737248     kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613739928 The International Language Institute of MA offers Spanish for Healthcare Professionals that can be reimbursed partially or fully through the Workforce Training Program, which means your clinic can sponsor it's staff to take medical Spanish at little to no cost. ]]> 2023-06-04 01:51:59 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613739928 Join and Support Community Health Literacy Programs kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613905533 The CDC provides a list of community organizations working to improve health literacy at the link above]]> 2023-06-04 12:53:06 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613905533 Read more about the impact of poor health literacy here: kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613918043 2023-06-04 13:25:34 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613918043 Learn Medical Spanish (or the primary language of your community) kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613920233 Research shows that patients feel more comfortable when their healthcare provider speaks the same language as them. Taking the time to learn the primary language of your community will make your patient-provider relationships better and promote better health literacy.

    See two resources below to learn medical Spanish!

    Lopez Vera, A., Thomas, K., Trinh, C., & Nausheen, F. (2023). A Case Study of the Impact of Language Concordance on Patient Care, Satisfaction, and Comfort with Sharing Sensitive Information During Medical Care. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 1–9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01463-8]]>     2023-06-04 13:31:25 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613920233     Support and Participate in Collecting Data on Cities, not Counties kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613925215 While more difficult to obtain, using city data to inform health decisions rather than county paints a better picture of smaller communities and accounts for the differences between communites within the same county. County dashboards are a great place to start, but research shows consistent discrepancies in city-county data pairs across many aspects of health and health literacy. City-focused research is crucial in order to identify unique community needs.

    Spoer BR, Feldman JM, Gofine ML, Levine SE, Wilson AR, Breslin SB, et al. Health and Health Determinant Metrics for Cities: A Comparison of County and City-Level Data. Prev Chronic Dis 2020;17:200125. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd17.200125]]>     2023-06-04 13:41:49 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613925215     kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613932664 2023-06-04 13:57:23 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613932664 kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613938382 The NIH offers this course on accessing and assessing health information to increase adolescents' ability to understand health information and identify misinformation. ]]> 2023-06-04 14:10:01 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613938382 Learn More About Health Literacy kucciferri https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613948504 There are MANY ways to get involved and promote health literacy. The CDC provides tons of resources to learn about and teach about health literacy that are not covered on this padlet :)]]> 2023-06-04 14:29:49 UTC https://padlet.com/kucciferri/76j295c1f7gym3rt/wish/2613948504