Two weeks ago tomorrow, I had cataract surgery on my “second” eye, four weeks after the first surgery. Now that I’ve resumed normal activity and internalized the eye drop regimen, I’m reflecting on the experience from my engaged-patient perspective. The surgery went well, and I’m very happy with the results. But communication I received from […]
Editor’s note: October has been Health Literacy Month, so I’ve often thought of Christopher Trudeau, who has contributed a number of posts to this blog over the years. Trudeau is affiliated with both the law and medical schools at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. He is also a member of the International Health Literacy Association’s […]
Editor’s Note: This post was first published on October 15, 2020. Last week I wrote about a case study presented in a new book from the National Academy of Sciences’ Roundtable on Health Literacy. The book presents the proceedings of a recent workshop focused on helping children, adolescents and young adults engage in their own […]
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently acknowledged Health Literacy Month with a blog post and reminder that the agency offers funding to researchers “to develop new evidence on how best to integrate organizational health literacy strategies into primary and specialty care, as well as how to spread health literacy strategies across ambulatory settings.” […]
Last week I wrote about a case study presented in a new book from the National Academy of Sciences’ Roundtable on Health Literacy. The book presents the proceedings of a recent workshop focused on helping children, adolescents and young adults engage in their own health and healthcare. This week I want to mention a second […]
Developing Health Literacy Skills in Children and Youth, a new book from the National Academy of Sciences’ Roundtable on Health Literacy,* presents the proceedings of a workshop held in November 2019, just a few months before the pandemic. How quickly things were about to change! The lack of mention of COVID-19 is striking, especially in […]
Evidence-based fact sheets are available for free in more than 30 languages from the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project. The project is the brainchild of Pooja Chandrashekare, a first-year medical student at Harvard Medical School, and now reflects the work of more than 150 medical students who have helped translate evidence-based information into accessible and practical […]
Words matter and can be confusing, especially when they denote different things to different people or in certain contexts. “Love” means one thing on Valentine’s Day and another on the tennis court. The word “point” conjures numerous meanings—a detail, the sharp end of a pin or a finger singling out something in the distance. To […]
Editor’s note: This post, originally published in June 2018, was the third post in Trudeau’s series on how to engage patients through written materials. In February, he wrote about three pillars to creating health-literate material: purpose, audience, and input. In March, he offered two tips for writing engaging content: use question-style headings and explain technical terms […]
Editor’s Note: This week’s encore post highlights MedStar Health’s Simulation Training and Education Lab, which was recognized as a finalist for the 2018 Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement. The Sherman Award is co-sponsored by Taylor Healthcare and the IHI/NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. The nomination period for the 2019 Sherman Awards is open now […]