Low health literacy: a barrier to effective patient care.

Abstract

Low health literacy is an unavoidable barrier to effective patient care for physicians across the country. If the full spectrum definition of health literacy is understood by physicians and carefully considered in the context of their own practices, it is likely they would come to the realization that health literacy is a greater obstacle to providing health care than they previously considered. In order to communicate more effectively and better serve our patients, we need to resist stereotyping patients when estimating (e.g., over estimating or under estimating) their health literacy. We also need to identify educational resources and methods of communication that will ease the burden of health illiteracy. With nearly half of patients having low health literacy nationwide, it is essential to understand health literacy and acknowledge this problem in all of our practices.