Stake Your Claim to Health Literacy
What happened and what's next
By Natalie Kamper, M.L.I.S.
2nd year NLM Associate Fellow
On January 28, the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library hosted "Stake Your Claim to Health Literacy." This one-day educational symposium focused on the practical knowledge and tools needed to participate in Health Literacy initiatives within the healthcare and health information arena. The event was co-sponsored by the NCNMLG, MLGSCA, and PNC chapters of the Medical Library Association and preceded their joint meeting in Sacramento, California. The symposium was developed by an advisory group of library and literacy professionals from the NN/LM Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest Regions. "Stake Your Claim to Health Literacy" drew over 100 participants and included medical librarians, public librarians, healthcare interpreters, and health educators.
What happened?
The symposium covered topics concerning language and cultural access to health information as well as research and actions taken by major contributors to Health Literacy initiatives. Neil Rambo opened the morning session representing MLA and shared the activities of their Health Information Literacy Taskforce, which include defining the librarian role in Health Literacy, developing a communication/advocacy kit, and promoting partnerships with other organizations involved in Health Literacy initiatives. More information about the Taskforce and their activities can be found at http://www.mlanet.org/resources/healthlit/index.html. Joyce Backus from the National Library of Medicine discussed NLM's efforts to identify and make available Easy-to-Read health information pages on MedlinePlus and NIH Senior Health Web sites. MedlinePlus now offers interactive tutorials in English and Spanish in addition to the low literacy written materials. More information about these sites can be found at medlineplus.gov.
Dean Schillinger, M.D., served as keynote speaker for the symposium. He is an Associate Professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and heavily involved in research on clear health communication. Dean presented results of investigations performed at UCSF dealing with patient-provider communication and medical students. Despite efforts to improve communication and reduce the use of medical jargon, his research suggests a persisting gap in the effectiveness of communication between physicians and their patients.
The symposium offered breakout sessions to deliver practical knowledge and tools in Health Literacy. Audrey Riffenburgh covered formulas for assessing the readability of health information. Beth Wescott spoke about laws, regulations, and cost ramifications concerning low health literacy, particularly relating to informed consent. Christine Owen Wilson addressed cultural considerations with translated health information. Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi covered non-print resources available to low literate adults. The symposium also featured exhibitors that shared resources from their organizations. The exhibitors represented California Healthcare Foundation, California Healthcare Interpreters Association, California Literacy, EPA Associates, Institute for Healthcare Advancement, and Kaiser Permanente.
What's next?
You can learn more about health literacy and join initiatives in your organization or within MLA. The following list of activities points to Web sites that offer information about clear health communication, partnerships in health literacy, and providing materials for low literacy patients. Here are a few suggestions of ways to get involved in Health Literacy:
- Take a look at the MLA Health Information Literacy Web site and participate in HIL activities.
- Spotlight links on your Web site that point to MedlinePlus Easy-to-Read pages and NIH Senior Health.
- Read about Pfizer Clear Health Communication.
- Apply for an AMA Foundation Health Literacy Kit and share it with colleagues and other healthcare professionals.
- Download materials from the Ask Me 3 project.
- Learn about the California Health Literacy Initiative and use their links for resources.
- Attend the Third Annual Health Literacy Conference in May 2004, sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Advancement. Register by April 16, 2004, for "earlybird" prices!