Communication techniques for patients with low health literacy: a survey of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.

OBJECTIVE To explore the self-reported techniques used by health care professionals to enhance communication with patients with low health literacy. METHODS A survey was administered to physicians (n=99), nurses (n=87), and pharmacists (n=121) attending continuing education programs on patient safety and health care quality. Each was asked to rate communication-enhancing strategies by frequency of use and effectiveness with patients with low health literacy. RESULTS Using simple language (94.7%), handing out printed materials (70.3%), and speaking more slowly (67.3%) were the most commonly used strategies. Strategies currently recommended by health literacy experts were less routinely used. CONCLUSIONS Further research is needed that evaluates the effectiveness of communication strategies for patients with limited literacy skills within diverse clinical encounters.

[1]  T. Davis,et al.  Health Literacy and Cancer Communication , 2002, CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.

[2]  R. Jackson,et al.  Intervention to increase mammography utilization in a public hospital , 2007, Journal of General Internal Medicine.

[3]  Jay S. Blanchard,et al.  Illiteracy among Medicaid Recipients and its Relationship to Health Care Costs , 2010, Journal of health care for the poor and underserved.

[4]  Junling Ren,et al.  Functional health literacy and the risk of hospital admission among Medicare managed care enrollees. , 2002, American journal of public health.

[5]  C. Degazon,et al.  You make the diagnosis. Case study: diagnoses and interventions with low literacy. , 1999, Nursing diagnosis : ND : the official journal of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association.

[6]  C. Bennett,et al.  Improving Rates of Cervical Cancer Screening and Pap Smear Follow-Up for Low-Income Women with Limited Health Literacy , 2001, Cancer investigation.

[7]  M. Wolf,et al.  Health literacy and patient knowledge in a Southern US HIV clinic , 2004, International journal of STD & AIDS.

[8]  D. Baker,et al.  Inadequate literacy is a barrier to asthma knowledge and self-care. , 1998, Chest.

[9]  L. Goldfrank.  The Public Hospital , 1997 .

[10]  Edward J. Haver.  Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills, Second Edition , 1997 .

[11]  M. Wolf,et al.  Relation between literacy and HIV treatment knowledge among patients on HAART regimens , 2005, AIDS care.

[12]  C. Meade,et al.  Impact of culturally, linguistically, and literacy relevant cancer information among Hispanic farmworker women. , 2002, Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education.

[13]  Elizabeth Greenberg,et al.  A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century. NCES 2006-470. , 2006 .

[14]  D. Schillinger,et al.  Closing the loop: physician communication with diabetic patients who have low health literacy. , 2003, Archives of internal medicine.

[15]  C. Bennett,et al.  Relation between literacy, race, and stage of presentation among low-income patients with prostate cancer. , 1998, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[16]  Gregory Makoul,et al.  An integrative model of shared decision making in medical encounters. , 2006, Patient education and counseling.

[17]  M. Wolf,et al.  Health literacy and functional health status among older adults. , 2005, Archives of internal medicine.

[18]  Bryan B. Whaley,et al.  Explaining illness : research, theory, and strategies , 1999 .

[19]  Patricia Garcia,et al.  The association of health literacy with cervical cancer prevention knowledge and health behaviors in a multiethnic cohort of women. , 2002, American journal of obstetrics and gynecology.

[20]  S. Miles,et al.  Patients who can't read. Implications for the health care system. , 1995, JAMA.

[21]  S. Ray,et al.  Use of a low-literacy patient education tool to enhance pneumococcal vaccination rates. A randomized controlled trial. , 1999, JAMA.

[22]  D. Schillinger,et al.  Association of health literacy with diabetes outcomes. , 2002, JAMA.

[23]  David A. Kindig,et al.  Health literacy : a prescription to end confusion , 2004 .

[24]  Nina S. Parikh,et al.  Shame and health literacy: the unspoken connection. , 1996, Patient education and counseling.

[25]  H. Egeth,et al.  Using pictographs to enhance recall of spoken medical instructions II. , 1998, Patient education and counseling.