Hi, Linda,

When the Unified Health Communications Training Course is online, can you let me know?  I am very interested in it.

Thanks,

Have a great day,

Hong


Hong Chartrand, MPA
Resource Liaison
Arizona Health Disparities Center
Arizona Department of Health Services
1740 W. Adams, #410
Phoenix, AZ 85007
(602) 542-2911; (602) 542-2011 (fax)
chartrh at azdhs.gov
www.azminorityhealth.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Johnston-Lloyd, Linda (HRSA)
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 12:55 PM
To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 1273] Re: A prescription for health lteracy

HRSA will be rolling out a Unified Health Communications Training Course
which includes a health literacy module, cultural competency module and
Limited English Proficiency module which will be an online interactive
4-5 hour course.


Linda


Linda Johnston Lloyd, HRSA Health Literacy Coordinator  ~HRSA Center for
Quality ~ Room 7-100 5600 Fishers Lane ~ Rockville, MD 20857
p: 301-443-0831~ f: 301-443-9795 ljohnston-lloyd at hrsa.gov ~ www.hrsa.gov



-----Original Message-----
From: Andrea Wilder [mailto:andreawilder at comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 3:40 PM
To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 1249] Re: A prescription for health lteracy

Hi Len and Ceci,

I agree with your last point 100%

When a person is really sick, they go to a doctor or hospital, they
don't learn how to read better. Sick people are sick, they are less
able, maybe not able at all, to take care of themselves. Nurses,
doctors, administrators, architects must design services so everyone who
is sick can be taken care of. This means educating and training (2
different functions).

As for people who will eventually be patients--I have thought that field
trips to hospitals would be in order. Literacy lessons could grow out of
that--very FCE (Functional Context Education).

As I write this, I think there must be a meeting of minds (and bodies)
between literacy teachers and doctors, nurses, etc. I am ignorant about
what is being done--does this already happen?

Thanks.

Andrea

On Sep 19, 2007, at 1:53 PM, Lendoak at aol.com wrote:


        Dear Cynthia and list,



        Thank you for your comments on the 2003 NAAL data on literacy
and health literacy.  And we agree with your suggested action to address
the individuals, the (healthcare) systems, and their  interaction.
However, we suggest that the majority of effort be focused on the latter
two, for the following reasons:



        1. Large improvement in the literacy skills of the adult US
population will take many decades if it is practical at all.  We see
little or no improvement when comparing the NAAL data of 1993 with the
recent NAAL data. Our tutoring experience, and that of others, shows
that "success" is helping the adult student advance about two grade
levels after a year of hard study - if you can motivate them to hang in
there for a year.



        Future decades may be brighter for children who may be helped by
federal and state education initiatives.



        2. Methodologies are well researched and documented on ways to
make written (and other) forms of communication easier to understand,
and more motivating. But these methods are barely used, most likely
because those producing the written health care instructions are not
trained in these methods.  For example, a few years ago after one of our
workshops a health  educator said to us:"I've graduated with an MPH from
one of the best universities in the country, and I never heard of
readability formulas, or the many other ways you've presented on how to
make instructions more understandable."



        Such training needs to be a part of every curriculum for health
care professionals. It would not be enough to train just state and
federal agency health workers because hospitals and clinics produce most
of the written health care instructions. (Over the years Ceci and I
analyzed the suitability of over 2,000 such instructions from a very
broad range of sources and noticed that over two thirds of the written
materials were produced by hospitals and clinics rather than government
and private agencies.)



        3. Awareness of the benefits of patient-with-provider
interaction seems to be just beginning. The Pfizer sponsored "Ask Me 3"
project is a hopeful start.  The health care systems are not likely to
give doctors more time to interact with patients, so less costly, and
trained,  health personnel need to be added to do this. A few clinics
already do.



        CDC, HHS and AHRQ and others could do a lot to improve
interaction by sponsoring research to show the huge payoffs that would
accrue in both costs and patient wellness.  Social marketing programs
could use the benefits data to promote change.


        In summary, NAAL data show where the people are in terms of
literacy and health literacy.  So much effort goes into measuring the
skills of the population.  History shows us that the people aren't going
to change much.
        Isn't it time to give equal effort to measure the health
communication skills of our health care systems; and then train our
professionals to do better?

        Does anyone have a list of current programs to do this training?


        Len and Ceci Doak



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