The Centers for Disease Control defines health literacy as “the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions.”
Although many cancer programs have made significant headway in providing patient-friendly materials in recent years, health literacy related to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment follow-up requires on-going attention. For patients with cancer, poor health literacy may result in facing increased risk of medical errors, chronic disease recurrence that leads to higher hospitalization rates, and sub-optimal health outcomes.
Health literate healthcare organizations can better deliver patient-centered care and meet requirements for certification and reimbursement. The Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine) Roundtable on Health Literacy has acknowledged 10 attributes of health literate healthcare organizations. While various factors can lead to ineffective health communication, a common factor for many patients is difficulty understanding and interpreting information about their disease when communicating with health professionals. Creating and using resources so that patients better understand basic health information can lead to patients making appropriate health decisions and improved communication with their healthcare team.
With this education project, ACCC seeks to help cancer programs across the country to assess and improve their health literacy through the application principles identified through the National Academy of Medicine [formerly, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)] Roundtable on Health Literacy's attributes of health literate healthcare organizations. The goals include:
Health Literacy & Clear Communication is a dynamic eCourse that delivers simple methods to improve patient-provider communications. Engage with oncology-specific exercises, activities, and situations and receive real-time feedback and suggestions to put evidence-based strategies into practice.
Ask Me 3® is a tool that encourages patients to ask three simple questions each time they talk to a care team member. As we all know, communication is a two-way street. This video shows how your responses to patients’ concerns as members of their cancer care team can clearly, empathetically, and appropriately engage them and promote effective communication throughout the care continuum.
Gain a deeper understanding of why evaluation of your cancer program's health literacy efforts is important. Identify areas where simple quality improvement measures can lead to more effective communication, and learn about an easy-to-implement gap assessment tool that will help improve health literate communications throughout the cancer care continuum.
This tool is intended to help cancer programs advance their delivery of patient-centered care by integrating key attributes of a health literate healthcare program. By completing the assessment tool, cancer programs can identify educational needs and pinpoint areas where targeted education could improve patient care.
For more information on this project, please contact the ACCC Provider Education department