Did You Know?
Most patient education is written at a high school level or above.
Only about 32% of commonly used materials are understood by the majority of patients.
The average American reads at a seventh to eighth grade level.
One in five Americans read at the fifth grade level or below.
For groups over 65 or from the inner city, this number increases two in five.
Even highly literate adults prefer to learn from attractive materials written in simplified language.
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Patient Education Cares
Patient Education Cares can help you improve communication among your clinicians, staff, and most importantly, with your patients. Contact us for information regarding our Workshops, Plain Language and Process Improvement services.
Health Literacy
As our healthcare environment becomes more complex, we increasingly ask our patients to find and use healthcare information across a variety of media. Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services like:
- Locating a provider
- Giving a health history
- Choosing treatment options
- Engaging in self-care and chronic disease management
- Filling out complex forms
The impact of poor health literacy is immediate and dramatic:
- More medication errors and excess hospitalizations
- More ED visits
- Higher levels of illness
- Increased costs to the US healthcare system
Patient education materials written in Plain Language are an important tool for improving health literacy.
What is Patient Education?
Patient education is a series of learning experiences designed to help patients change their health behaviors in an effort to achieve good health. At Patient Education Cares, we believe that patient education should be patient centered and interactive.
Tips for effective teaching:
- Speak slowly and make eye contact
- Ask open ended questions
- Use "Plain" not medical language
- Limit the amount of information provided and repeat it
- Show or draw pictures
- Use teach back or show me techniques
- Teach the “Ask Me 3” approach
Considerations for successful teaching:
- Patient age and developmental stage
- Literacy level/health literacy level
- Learning style
- Readiness to learn
- Family support
Documentation
In today’s healthcare environment, accurate and timely documentation is essential to meet regulatory requirements. In addition, documentation helps facilitate communication between healthcare providers, maintains the continuity of care, and insures that patient teaching progresses in a systematic and sequenced manner.
Health Literacy Links:
- Pfizer Clear Health Communication Initiative
- Health Literacy Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health
- American Medical Association
Patient Education Links
- MedLine Plus
- Health Information Translations
- Ask Me 3 from The National Patient Safety Foundation
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