Health Literacy

Help your patients understand – and then act.

“Health literacy” refers to how well a person digests basic health information and uses it to make good decisions. A patient with high health literacy can successfully obtain, communicate, process and understand information about their health and take better care of themselves.

Why do I need to pay attention to it?

Studies show that nearly half of patients have limited health literacy. Providers can’t assume that patients are health literate.

How can I support my patients?

Use the teach-back method to check for understanding.
Avoid jargon. Use common words whenever possible.
Encourage patients to take notes and ask questions. Leave space for two-way dialogue.
Provide written materials that use plain language (more on this below).
Include health literacy in staff training.

How do I use plain language?

Write in short sentences that contain only one idea. Try to limit each sentence to no more than 12 words.
Aim for a fifth- or sixth-grade reading level. Programs like MS Word and MS Outlook can help you with this.
Use simple language rather than jargon. This thesaurus and these test exercises and answers will help.
Organize information into lists, using bullets or numbers.
Leave lots of white space around text.
Use graphics to aid understanding.