Health Literacy

A Screening Tool
The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) is a bilingual (English and Spanish) screening tool that identifies patients at risk for low health literacy. The NVS is Pfizer’s most recent contribution to the health literacy movement, and was researched by Barry D. Weiss, MD, The University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Screening Tool and Scoring Sheets in English and Spanish.

What are the top 3 things hospitals need to know about Health Literacy ?
Hospital Impact: May 2007 Interview with Interview with Mark Achler, CEO of Emmi Solutions by Tony Chen.

1. It’s a bigger problem than most of us may realize. Over 90 million Americans have difficulty understanding and acting on health information. Even well-educated people have trouble understanding instructions on pill bottles, discharge sheets, informed consent documents, and the brochures and handouts that are supposedly there to help.

2. The health literacy problem is a patient satisfaction problem. It’s a quality and safety problem. It’s a risk problem.

3. Health literacy has huge economic consequences for hospitals. The IOM found that the US healthcare system spends an average of $993 every year per patient with low health literacy in excess hospitalization expenses. So, improving the health literacy level of patients should be on the top of hospital leaders to do lists and action items. It’s fundamental.

3 Little Questions Can Help Address Health Care Literacy
Columbia Missourian 2007
Ever leave your doctor’s office more confused about your health issues than when you walked in? You might be suffering from more than physical ailments.
Low “health literacy,” an individual’s ability to obtain, process and understand health information and the services needed to make appropriate decisions and follow instructions for treatment, can put you at risk for unnecessary hospitalizations, emergency treatment and medication errors.
Ask Me 3, The Partnership for Clear Health Communication’s community-based educational initiative, visits senior centers, elderly housing, community centers and churches to teach seniors three simple queries:
~ What is my main problem ?
~ What do I need to do ?
~ Why is it important for me to do this ?

Prescription Picture Cards by PictureRx
on the horizon and looks useful; what is the cost ? who pays ?