Low health literacy carries a stigma only if you do not fully understand
the IOM definition - which says" 
 
"the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process,
and understand basic health information and services needed to make
appropriate health decisions."
 
Patients are not the only individuals in the health system.  Physicians
are individuals, as are nurses, pharmacists, hospital administrators and
policy makers.  It is not just the patients who has to obtain, process,
and understand.  That is precisely what's wrong with the present system.
 The patient has to do it all.  
 
I will admit that if I were writing the definition again I would add
..."the degree to which individuals, organizations and systems have the
capacity to obtain, process, understand and communicate basic health
information........  ."
 
Health literacy is not the function of individual patients or citizens-
but of the systems that serve all of us.  
The simplest and perhaps most powerful question you can ask yourself
is:  "Am I a member of a health literate organization."
 
Wm. Smith
Executive Vice President
Academy for Educational Development
1825 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20009

Organize policy until self-interest
does what justice requires.
Phone: 202-884-8750
Fax: 202-884-8752
e-mail: bsmith at aed.org 


>>> "Johnston-Lloyd, Linda (HRSA)" <LJohnston-Lloyd at hrsa.gov> 4/17/2008

3:24 PM >>>

Nicola,
I agree with you as I feel low literacy may denote a stigma to some
people.

In the HRSA Unified Health Communication course, we agreed to use
"limited heath literacy" it may be limited by worry about your care or
diagnosis or inability to understand the words or stress with a visit
to
the doctor where you have received bad news, etc. any number of
reasons
can affect one's literacy at a given time.
http://www.hrsa.gov/healthliteracy/training.htm 


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: Davies, Nicola [mailto:NDavies at dthr.ab.ca] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 1:19 PM
To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 1920] Re: Terminology, Labelling and Naming

I have a question for the list - just an informal survey.

How do you feel about referring to the people we tailor materials for
as
"low literate" or "low health literate"? I have read lots of excellent
opinion pieces on naming of people with tangible diseases; e.g.,
"people
with diabetes" rather than "diabetics". However, using the phrase
"people who have low literacy" or "People with low health literacy"
just
doesn't ring fair, simply because we have already established that
literacy is not a personal issue, but rather a social one, and cannot
be
owned wholly by the individual we are referring to.
So, how do you refer to the people we are ultimately working for?

I am looking forward to seeing what you all think.

Regards,
Nicola

Nicola Davies, BA
Health Literacy Specialist
Wellness Centre Coordinator
Consumer Health Information Technician
ndavies at dthr.ab.ca 
(403) 352-7643
Red Deer Regional Hospital
        3942-50A Ave
        Red Deer, AB
        T4N 4E7

-----Original Message-----
From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Champ-Blackwell,
Siobhan
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:42 AM
To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 1918] FW: [caphis] Fw: [NPInfo] iPods for
PatientEducation


This email has gone through several listservs, i am just sending on
the
original. Pretty interesting use of ipods. I like that the video shows
an older person using it.
Siobhan



----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "repyke at infionline.net" <repyke at infionline.net>
To: Telehealth-L <TELEHEALTH at LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG>
Cc: NP Info <npinfo at nurse.net>; EHEALTH <EHEALTH at LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG>;
nrsing-l <nrsing-l at mailman.amia.org>; CONSUMER-HEALTH-INFORMATICS
<CONSUMER-HEALTH-INFORMATICS at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 5:58:29 PM
Subject: [NPInfo] iPods for Patient Education

Dear All,

There is an interesting video clippng on how Grayson H. Wheatley III,
M.D.,a cardiovascular surgeon at the Arizona Heart Institute, uses
video
iPods to educate his patients about diet, exercise, heart and surgical
procedures.

You can view the clip at

http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/media-library.aspx 

Thank you very much.

Regards
Jai

--
A.U.Jai Ganesh,
Project Coordinator,
Telemedicine & eHealth,
Prasanthi Nilayam.
India.

----------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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Email delivered to ljohnston-lloyd at hrsa.gov 
----------------------------------------------------
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