How are Health Literacy Issues Addressed?
Health literacy is an important part of effectively engaging patients in their care; it is a fundamental part of patient and family centered care.3 More than the ability to merely decode health and medical language,4,5 health literacy requires complex skills and critical thinking; it refers to a person’s ability to understand and to act on information that directly affects his or her well being.3,6,7 It is also key to ensuring patient safety.8 Not surprisingly, many patients and families treated at the SDHCC clinic struggle with health literacy issues, as do 50% of the adult American population3 of varying educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. In order to provide the best possible care environment, clinic staff members work together to create opportunities for patients and family members to be engaged, informed, and active participants in their own care. The SDHCC families have interpretive language services available to them, translated patient education materials are provided wi
