Health professionals, how you write and speak affects Health Equity. That’s why health literacy is so important now. In this episode, you’ll learn 11 concrete things you can do with your very next patient or client to help with health literacy. And there’s a bonus infographic!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Today’s episode is about health literacy, one of my favorite topics! And I’m going to give you concrete things you can do with your very next patient or client to help with health literacy.
Hi everybody. I’m Dr. Anne Marie Liebel. This is 10 Minutes to Better Patient Communication from Health Communication Partners, an independent, health equity focused communication & education consultancy. Today’s episode sponsored by Maven Roth Group who thanks our Healthcare Heroes for their hard work during this difficult time. Maven Roth can help take some of the work off your already full plate, because they’ve been teaming up with hospitals and practices for years, helping them communicate with their audiences through print social media and more. Now let Maven Roth help you create and share your covid-19 messaging. Visit Mavenroth.com today.
So health literacy, you might know, refers to the ways that ordinary people interact with the specialized language of health and Health care. Attention is most often on the clinical environment, with good reason right? There’s a lot of specialized language and specialized information that you need to be able to successfully navigate the healthcare system wherever you are.
It’s also very important to Public Health. And our friends in public health obviously have been very busy since the pandemic broke out, trying to let us all know about COVID. Keeping us up-to-date with how it works, how it doesn’t work. How to keep ourselves and our community safe, right. How vaccines work. What they do and don’t do.
And they want everyone to know about all of this and are making sure that it’s not just insiders who have this very, very important information. It’s not just those in power who have this very important information, but everybody. Everybody needs to know this. And that’s a the big health literacy issue. In this way, health professionals, how you write and speak affects health equity. That’s why health literacy is so important now.
Let’s remember too that everybody is busy, all the time. Everybody learns differently. And everybody needs reminding of things now and again. Everybody makes sense of the world from their own perspective. And everybody is distracted, sometimes more than others. This is why I’ve written for you 11 things you can do to help with health literacy, right now, with your very next patient or client that you deal with. Because again, how you write and speak effects Health Equity. The core of this episode is from one of our very first broadcasts way back in October 2017. So let’s go there now.
Health literacy is increasingly recognized as a multifaceted phenomenon, beyond an individual’s set of skills. There is awareness that health literacy involves interactions. Interactions among individuals, and between people and texts. Oral, written, and multimodal texts.
This is a good thing when you’re hoping to educate a patient.
Here are some research-based steps you and your colleagues can take now, to prepare for patients who may have limited literacy. And these go to 11.
- 1. Don’t panic
First of all, literacy is complex. Everyone has a range of literacy skills and processes.
Consider smart phones. They’re everywhere, and they require reading and writing. If your patient can use a smart phone, they have some level of literacy.
Even people who are labelled as ‘illiterate’ have sophisticated ways of reading a text or image, keeping track of items, measuring and weighing, and estimating and calculating. Only a few of these could possibly be captured by any assessment. So don’t panic at your patient’s score.
- Don’t let a label ‘stick’ to your patient
Researchers are emphatic about the fact that a health literacy assessment score is NOT a proxy for a patient’s education level. But it can still wind up being treated that way.
I don’t know what assessment the nurse manager’s patient had taken. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking your patient is uneducated, or somehow deficient, if they struggle with reading or writing.
Approach your patient as someone who uses language in sophisticated ways in their everyday life. Because it’s true! Speak to them with this assumption in mind. You’ll feel less disconnected from your patient, and will be able to focus on the task at hand rather than some perceived deficiency.
- Start with what your patient brings to the table
If your patient comes to you with any information, items, or written material, talking about these is a good start. These will be items with which they are already familiar, so there may be less nervousness about their meaning or significance.
- Figure out where literacy is absolutely necessary.
Get clear for your sake – and your patient’s –on which parts of their visit or procedure require them to read or write.
Ask yourself:
- What reading and writing activities can be delayed? What can patients fill out or read at home with a friend?
- What reading and writing activities can be eliminated altogether? For example, is a patient being asked to provide information that has been provided before, or that is available on his/her EMR?
- Have information available in multiple modes
In literacy terms, “modes” are ways of communicating meaning. Think of how videos combine images and sound. Those are two different modes.
One of the most powerful ways you can help patients learn is through mixing your modes.
This can be simple and unfussy. For example, take a written text you use frequently. Read it aloud–the voice recorder on your phone works just fine–to turn into an audio file. Maybe try reading with a little expression.
Post the audio file on your website. You might offer to send it to patients’ phones for them to listen to even while they’re with you.
You only have to do this once, to help many patients.
- Have a list of websites you trust
These are sites you believe are communicating reliable and up-to-date information. Email these to patients, and post them on your site.
Bonus points for occasionally visiting a site together, side by side with a patient, and eliciting feedback!
- Have a list of apps you can recommend
Apps tend to be graphics-heavy. They are also interactive. Both of these traits are beneficial for learning. Apps can also be less intimidating than pages of solid prose.
If you’re not already asking your patients if they use apps, and which ones, do it. Keep a list, both of the good and not-so-good ones. Share the ‘good’ ones with other patients. Be prepared to talk about which ones you don’t recommend, and why.
- Collect other multimedia recommendations
Keep and update a list of podcasts and videos that explain your area of expertise from a patient perspective. Post links to these on your site or share these through social media.
Don’t know any? Ask your colleagues! Or post a question to an online community, and share with them what you collected.
- Know your digital communication
Be clear with patients what you use email for, and how frequently. Tell patients if there is a relationship between email and any patient portal they may be using. Some of them play nicely together, some not so much.
Remind patients how you and your practice use social media. Let them know if, and how, you use text messaging.
Consider the patient side: Can patients email you? Can they text your practice for information or support for the action you want them to undertake? What might they expect to see on your social media accounts?
- Audio recording
Yes, patients audio recording doctor visits is one of those topics that people have strong opinions on. Whatever your opinion, it’s legal in 39 states for patients to record their time with you. So your patients may be doing it, or thinking about doing it, anyhow.
If you are ok with patients recording their time with you, I suggest you bring it out into the open and invite them to do so, if they wish.
- Take a look at your written materials
How long has it been since you looked at the written materials you give to patients?
Make sure written materials are accompanied by images, and broken up into small paragraphs. Everyone finds this more manageable and memorable.
How you physically handle and talk about written materials also matters to the meaning people take from them. Handle a document with seriousness, and people will notice. Highlight or underline important passages, and talk about them or point to them when you’re there with your patient.
These 11 hints play well with what you already value about patient-centered care, and good communication overall. The more ways you can communicate a message, the more tools you’re offering your patients to learn in a way–and in a context–that supports them best.
If you like what you’re hearing, help me out by doing the rate and review in iTunes. You know, give it stars and write something in the box. I read it! Thanks! This has been Dr. Anne Marie Liebel for 10 Minutes to Better Patient Communication.
We can all use a little something extra these days. So here’s this episode in a handy Infographic! Click here to download
