Instructions for Off-site Clinics
and Departments
 October is Health
Literacy Month!
 An on-site Health
Literacy Fair will take
Place on 10/2 and 10/3 in
the 4ACC.
 It’s important to us that
our offsite locations have
this information too!
 Responsible:
 Unit Director/Manager
 During the Month of
October 2012
 Please present this
information to your staff by:
 Printing and posting it on
a Bulletin Board; or
 Presenting it at a Staff
Meeting
Health Literacy 101
To Learn More Contact:
Audrey Riffenburgh
Senior Health Literacy Specialist
Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
272-5101
The Challenge: Meeting Our
Patients’ Information Needs
 Our challenge—health care systems
are tough for patients to manage
 Difficult processes, hard-to-understand
policies
 Verbal communication—too often not
understood, but patients don’t ask
 Print communication—too hard to read
or in terminology patients don’t know
Why Don’t People Understand?
 Medical terms, the human body, and
our health care system are mysteries!
 Reduced cognitive function
 Increased demands for patient “self-care”
 Potential barriers of race, language, culture,
poverty, gender, illness, and literacy
What is Health Literacy?
 An individual’s ability to obtain,
process, understand and use health
information and services to make
appropriate health decisions.
~ Healthy People 2010
 An organization’s ability to make it
easier for people to navigate,
understand, and use information and
services to make…health decisions.
~ IOM “Attributes of a HL
Organization,” 2012
Health Literacy vs.
General Literacy
 Low general literacy leads to low
health literacy.
 But even highly-literate people can
have low health literacy.
 No matter who you are, medical info
is tough when you’re ill, stressed or
don’t know about the topic.
“The Health Literacy of
America’s Adults”
 Only 12% are in the proficient level!
 75 million adults are in below basic &
basic levels
60
53
50
40
30
22
20
14
12
10
0
Below Basic
Basic
Intermediate
Proficient
Source: 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
Groups at Greatest Risk of
Low Health Literacy Skills
 Seniors
 People living in poverty
 People from ethnic minority groups—
Hispanic, Black, American Indian
 People with physical, mental or other
health problems
 People with chronic or long term
health problems
(Sources: 1993 National Adult Literacy Survey and
Health Literacy of America’s Adults, 2003)
What is UNM Hospitals Doing to Improve
Communication with Patients?
 Health Literacy Classes
 Sign up through Learning Central
 Patient-Friendly Document Committee
 Review and Revision of Certain Documents
 Creation of Templates
 Creation of Guideline Resources
 Raising Awareness
 Health Literacy Fair October 2-3, 2012
 Health Literacy Month – Bulletin Boards/Offsite Staff Education
 Resources Online
 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dept website from Intranet
 HSLIC Health Literacy LibGuide: http://hsc.unm.edu/library/
Check it Out!
 Here are some recently revised documents from
UNM Hospitals
 See if you can spot the changes!
BEFORE
Original Parent Discharge
Checklist (NBICU & ICN)
AFTER
Final Parent Discharge
Checklist (NBICU & ICN)
BEFORE
Original Consent for Surgery
or Procedure
Page 1
Page 2
AFTER
Final (Draft) Consent for
Surgery or Procedure
Page 1
Page 2