RE: "multi-cultural or multi-lingual" focus

I was recently at a talk by Barry Weiss, MD at the ACU (Association of
Clinicians for the Underserved) meeting where he talked about his latest
research and application of the Newest Vital Sign.  

He mentioned that the issue of health literacy was triggered by a number of
things, one of which was a physician who went to see a surgeon for a
pre-operative consult on a knee replacement and left the office realizing
that he had no idea what the doctor had said.  I think this emphasizes that
even physician to physician or across disciplines, we may tend to use
language with the assumption that others know what we mean.

It supports the idea that this is an "all-people" issue and we must be
careful that our efforts or definitions do not end up limiting the group(s)
to which health literacy applies - especially in a political environment
that is critical of immigrants and non-native English speakers.

David Pole, MPH
Deputy Director, Division of Community Health Promotion
Deputy Director, AHEC Program Office
Deparment of Community and Family Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
(P) 314-977-8484
(F) 314-977-5268
poledc at slu.edu