Health Literacy Resources
Videos and Slides
Institute of Medicine “Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion” about Health Literacy
for healthcare professionals. http://hospitals.unm.edu/health_literacy/index.html
ACP Foundation “Low Health Literacy” (6.5 minutes)-Patients with health literacy concerns.
http://www.acponline.org/multimedia/?bclid=782539368001&bctid=790962260001
American Medical Association’s (AMA) Health Literacy Videos- http://www.amaassn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/ama-foundation/our-programs/public-health/health-literacyprogram/health-literacy-video.page?
NC Health Literacy Organization- PowerPoint Presentations developed by program members
found at http://nchealthliteracy.org/teachingaids.html
AHRQ Patient and Clinician Videos (2-7 minutes each) http://www.ahrq.gov/patientsconsumers/patient-involvement/ask-your-doctor/videos/index.html
Classes in Health Liter
Health Literacy Courses
Health Literacy– (free) Online course with credit from HRSA.
http://www.hrsa.gov/publichealth/healthliteracy/index.html
Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals –(free) Web-based Course # WB1285
http://www2a.cdc.gov/TCEOnline/registration/detailpage.asp?res_id=2074
Health Literacy Toolkit- (free) eLearning module from Charlotte AHEChttps://www.charlotteahec.org/continuing_education/registration/workshop.cfm?EventID=37207
Health Literacy Principles and Practice- ($15) eLearning module from Charlotte AHEChttps://www.charlotteahec.org/continuing_education/registration/workshop.cfm?EventID=37208
Fact Sheets
Fact Sheets
Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. Health Literacy Fact Sheets
http://www.chcs.org/publications3960/publications_show.htm?doc_id=291711
National Patient Safety Foundation- Health Literacy Resources and Fact Sheets
http://www.npsf.org/for-healthcare-professionals/programs/ask-me-3/ask-me-3-resources/
US Dept. of Health and Human Services- Quick Guide to Health Literacy
www.health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsbasic.htm
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – What We Know about Health Literacy- for
health communications and marketing professionals
http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/toolstemplates/healthliteracy.pdf
Health Literacy Resources
Website Resources
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and UNC-Chapel Hill
 North Carolina Program on Health Literacy –www.nchealthliteracy.org
 Health Literacy Toolkit- http://nchealthliteracy.org/toolkit/toollist.pdf
National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM)
Health Literacy Page- http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/hlthlit.html
MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine/ National Institute of Health) website for consumers
Health Literacy Page - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthliteracy.html
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
 Health Literacy: Accurate, Accessible and Actionable Health Information for Allhttp://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy
 Health Literacy Resource Page- http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/resources.html
The Health Literacy of America’s Adults, Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult
Literacy report from the National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006483.pdf
Medical Library Association – Health Information Literacy
http://www.mlanet.org/resources/healthlit/
World Education
Health Literacy Special Collection, Tools and Resources for Health Literacy Initiatives
http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/index.htm
Plain Language- Improving Health Literacy
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/populartopics/health_literacy/index.cfm
Harvard School of Public Health- Health Literacy Studies and Resources
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/
Health Literacy Resources
Health Literacy Assessment Tools and Instruments
Health Literacy Assessment Tools/ Instruments
To determine how many patients in your practice are troubled by low health literacy?
Assessment of patients’ health literacy level:
Pfizer- Prevalence Calculator- The calculator’s formula arrives at an estimated percentage of
patients with low health literacy based on the demographic characteristics of your practice.
 http://www.pfizerhealthliteracy.com/physicians-providers/PrevalenceCalculator.aspx
NC Health Literacy- Health Literacy Assessment Instruments
 http://nchealthliteracy.org/instruments.html
AHRQ Health Literacy Assessment Tools

http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/qualityresources/tools/literacy/index.html
Pfizer- The Newest Vital Sign: A New Health Literacy Assessment, for healthcare providers
 http://www.pfizerhealthliteracy.com/physicians-providers/NewestVitalSign.aspx
Assessment of patients’ reading level of documents:
Iowa Department of Public Health – Readability Calculators and Formulas
 http://www.idph.state.ia.us/PlainAndSimple/Readability.aspx
AddedBytes – Check Text Readability. Allows you to paste in your text for assessment. Reports
using multiple tools and methods
 http://www.readability-score.com/
WordsCount – SMOG Calculator. Allows you to paste in your text for assessment. Scores text
on years of education needed for comprehension
 http://www.wordscount.info/hw/smog.jsp
To write easy-to-read documents:
PlainLanguage.gov Tools and examples of plain language
Improving Communication from the Federal Government to the Public
 www.plainlanguage.gov/
MedlinePlus, (National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health)
How to Write Easy-to-Read Health Materials
 www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/etr.html
Center for Medicare Education- Writing Easy-to-Read Materials
 http://medicine.osu.edu/sitetool/sites/pdfs/ahecpublic/Writing_easytoread_materials.pdf
Health Literacy Information for patients with low literacy:
MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health) Easy-to-Read Health Materials http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/all_easytoread.html
Medical Library Association – "Deciphering Medspeak" Plain Language Brochure
 http://www.mlanet.org/resources/medspeak/medspeak_plain.html
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Aging Initiative– Easy to Read Fact Sheets
 http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/factsheets/
World Ed- Family Health and Literacy Easy-to-Read Health Information
 http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/family/easy.html