Nosheen Ali
Are we training residents to communicate with low health literacy patients?
Crozer-Keystone Health System
third americans low health literacy hl research indicates significant knowledge skills gap among residents pertaining management patients low hlthe objective study assess teaching evaluation methods around hl communitybased internal medicine residency programs addition study compared teaching evaluation practices used doctorpatient communication skills used hl skillsa structured questionnaire completed faculty communitybased internal medicine residency programs community hospital education research network website association program directors internal medicine community hospital assembly meeting october 2011less 50 programs provided formal teaching hl hl primarily taught via didactics 75 followed clinical observation 42 roleplaying 25 contrary patientprovider communication skills taught primarily using clinical observations 90 standardized patients 467 hl dimensions programs focused use teachback technique 100 prevalence low hl 833 association low hl patient outcomes 833 use plain language 833 areas least taught included helping patients navigate health system 333 choosing effective written material low hl patients 50health literacy taught consistently part core curricula communitybased internal medicine residency programs need professional technical resources incorporate hl teaching curricula wide variation terms hl skills taught evaluated communitybased internal medicine residency programs