Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Using Nursing Knowledge To Improve Health Literacy, Michele K. Savin, Msn, Nnp-Bc

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

Health Literacy: an ability to obtain and understand written, oral, and numerical health information, which allows people to make appropriate healthcare decisions for themselves and their family members.

The Problem:

*Low Health Literacy affects up to twenty percent of the adult population in the US and is not correlated with highest education achieved.

*Hospitals and healthcare professionals are increasingly being held accountable to create systems of care that address this issue with every patient encounter.

*AHRQ talks about implementing Universal Literacy Precautions.