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New Health Literacy Primer Guides Practitioners and Administrators on Effectively Caring for Low Literate Patients

Posted on: Thursday, 26 July 2007, 12:24 CDT

Clinicians are trained to deal with numerous patient health issues. But one critical area of need that often goes unmet in the doctor office visit is the practitioner's ability to effectively communicate with the patient. To help with this area of need, a new book, Health Literacy in Primary Care - A Clinician's Guide, from publisher Springer Publishing and the Institute for Healthcare Advancement, is now available. This clearly written, informative text provides insight, everyday examples, and an extensive collection of clear, concise tips, directions and tools for bridging a serious patient-practitioner communications gap.

"Nearly 90 million adults in the United States have limited ability to read and understand health information. For these individuals, performing even the most basic requirements of health care is a daunting task. Yet, for practitioners, there has been no manual on how to understand and provide the best care for these patients," said Gloria Mayer, RN, EdD, FAAN, co-author of the 312-page soft-cover book. "We wrote this book to fill that void with simple, successful and understandable approaches and concepts for improving patient communication."

Because all patients play an important role in the outcome of their own health care, competent delivery becomes almost impossible for caregivers when the challenge of low literary skills is present. To come to their aid, Health Literacy in Primary Care - A Clinician's Guide is packed with examples and tips, and serves as a much-needed guide for all participants in the health care delivery system who are looking for ways to improve their communication with low-literate patients.

The 294-page book covers many areas of theory, research, and practical applications, tools, and tips:

Common myths about low literacy

Examples of low health care literacy

How to recognize patients with low literacy

Strategies to help patients with low literacy and reduce medical errors

Cultural issues in health literacy

Ways to create a patient-friendly office environment

How to improve patient communication

Guidelines to target and overcome common problems practitioners encounter

"Low literacy is an overarching risk factor that is harmful to one's health. It is also expensive to society," said Michael Villaire, MSLM, who co-authored the book. Mayer and Villaire compiled a new industry resource by starting with an overview in assessing health literacy. The book then provides readers with ways to assess levels of literacy, factor culture into the care process, design easy-to-read patient education materials and principles of writing for low literacy.

Dr. Mayer, who is the president of the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA) and Villaire, who is director of programs and operations for IHA, together bring a wealth of health care experience and health literacy expertise to the subject, including producing IHA's annual Health Literacy Conference each spring in California and attended over the past six years by thousands of health care professionals across the country. IHA is also recognized for its award-winning "What To Do For Health" book series of self-help health books, written at a 3rd to 5th grade reading level, and available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean. More than a million copies of the book series have been sold.

Health Literacy in Primary Care - A Clinician's Guide is priced at $55 a copy and may be purchased online by going to www.springerpub.com or to the IHA website at www.iha4health.org, or by calling IHA at (800) 434-4633.

The Institute for Healthcare Advancement is a La Habra-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering people to better health. It is nationally recognized for its efforts in health literacy and provides healthcare information through its various publishing efforts, the Internet, and its renowned local and national education programs. For more information, visit them at www.iha4health.org.

Source: Business Wire

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