Far too often, ordinary citizens are placed at risk for unsafe care because important health care information is communicated using medical jargon and unclear language that exceed their literacy skills, according to a call to action released in February 2007 by The Joint Commission in its newest public policy white paper, “What Did the Doctor Say? Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety.” The paper frames the existing communications gap between patients and caregivers as a series of challenges involving literacy, language, and culture, and suggests multiple steps that need to be taken to narrow or even close this gap.
“Effective communication is a cornerstone of patient safety,” says Dennis S. O’Leary, M.D., president, The Joint Commission. “If patients lack basic understanding of their conditions and the whats and whys of the treatments prescribed, therapeutic goals can never be realized, and patients may instead be placed in harm’s way.”
The Joint Commission already promotes the involvement of patients in their care through its ongoing Speak Up™ educational campaigns. In addition, expectations regarding patient engagement and involvement in care decisions are stipulated in Joint Commission accreditation standards and its National Patient Safety Goals. But health literacy problems, which often go unrecognized and unaddressed by health care practitioners, undermine the ability of health care organizations to comply with the intents of the accreditation standards and safety goals that seek to protect the safety of patients. (more…)