Working with Patients with Limited Health Literacy

Discover how health literacy can boost health outcomes

Studies suggest that if health professionals include elements of health literacy in their day-to-day-practice, the benefits to health promotion, prevention, treatment and care are significant.

On this course, you’ll be introduced to the concept of health literacy. You’ll consider the consequences of limited health literacy, why it happens, and where it happens as you examine Europe-wide patterns.

You’ll also identify ways in which health professionals can help those with limited health literacy, and learn strategies for addressing unmet health literacy needs.

This course is designed for current and future healthcare professionals working in the public or private sector. The course is relevant for a wide range of professionals who come into contact with patients on a regular basis, including health literacy professionals, doctors, and nurses, as well as speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians and podiatrists.

• The concepts and consequences of limited health literacy
• Welcome to the course
• Getting to grips with the health literacy problem
• Accessing, understanding and appraising health information
• What is health literacy?
• The health professional's perspective
• How big is the health literacy problem
• Rounding up Week 1
• Approaches to mitigate health literacy problems from a healthcare system and patient perspective
• Welcome to Week 2
• Patient abilities and demands
• Introducing a Universal Precautions approach
• Health literacy and person-centred approach
• Health literacy and empowerment
• Identifying people with limited health literacy
• Rounding up Week 2
• Strategies and techniques to mitigate health literacy problems from a healthcare professional perspective
• Welcome to Week 3
• Barriers in communication between healthcare professional and patient
• The value of questions in meeting patients’ health literacy needs
• Plain language
• Encouraging people to ask questions
• Understanding in communication
• The teach-back method
• What next?