Health Literacy Past, Present, and Future: Workshop Summary (2015) / Chapter Skim
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2 Health Literacy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Progress and Possibilities
2 Health Literacy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Progress and Possibilities
Pages 5-10
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From page 5... ...
"While it may not necessarily attract headlines, it is absolutely at the core of everything we do as health care and public health professionals." He noted his friend, the late Reverend William Sloane Coffin, once said, "Giant obstacles are brilliant opportunities, brilliantly disguised as giant obstacles," which is relevant to what has transpired over the past decade of health literacy work in the United States. He also acknowledged the work of his former colleagues in the HHS Health Literacy Group, specifically Cynthia Baur, Cindy Brach, and Linda Harris.
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From page 6... ...
At that time he came to appreciate that health literacy can be viewed through many lenses, whether it is in terms of specific areas such as understanding prescription drug labels and medication adherence, or broader areas such as disease category, cultural and linguistic barriers, and how health literacy affects children or seniors. One of his suggestions for the future is to take an even broader view and move the health literacy discussion into the community, into public health and population health.
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From page 7... ...
"In addition to training individuals and providers, for example, we need to get organizational heads to underscore the importance of health-iterate l organizations." It will be critical to promote systems change for all health care organizations. The second paradigm shift, which has been called universal precautions, has been to stop assuming that people understand health information but instead assume that people are at risk for not understanding unless proven otherwise.
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From page 8... ...
, building on the paradigm change of assuming that people are at risk for not understanding health information unless proven otherwise. The Toolkit contains 20 specific steps for implementing universal precautions across a health care system and includes concrete suggestions such as focusing on teach-back and ensuring a brown-bag medication review for patients so they understand what prescription drugs they are taking and how to take it.
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From page 9... ...
Eventually, she ends up being hospitalized, treated, and discharged, again with little understanding of what she is supposed to do to best care for herself. "We have all been through this as doctors, as patients, and as public health professionals," said Koh.
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From page 10... ...
DISCUSSION During the brief discussion period following Koh's presentation, Lindsey Robinson, a practicing dentist and trustee for the American Dental Association, asked Koh how oral health fits into the discussion within the federal government, both about health literacy but also as part of the bigger issues of health care reform. Koh replied that traditionally, oral health was seen as something separate from the rest of health care and public health, but that attitude is changing.
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