Health Literacy
A person’s ability to find, understand, and use health information and services is described by this term.
What is health literacy?
The language a patient identifies as most appropriate for receiving healthcare information.
What is the patient’s preferred language?
Removing communication, physical, and technology barriers helps create this condition for patients with disabilities.
What is accessibility?
Giving every patient the same printed medication handout, regardless of whether the patient can use it, represents this approach.
What is equality?
Explaining medication use in understandable terms demonstrates this basic pharmacist role.
What is patient education?
Replacing medical jargon with familiar words and short sentences demonstrates this communication technique.
What is plain language?
A trained professional who accurately communicates spoken information between a patient and healthcare professional.
What is a qualified interpreter?
Large-print instructions, an accessible consultation area, or additional communication assistance may be examples of this individualized change.
What is a reasonable accommodation?
Providing the communication support each patient needs to have a fair opportunity for good health represents this principle.
What is health equity?
Asking about preferred language, communication method, vision, hearing, and understanding demonstrates this pharmacist activity.
What is assessing communication needs?
A pharmacist asks a patient to explain medication instructions in their own words to confirm understanding.
What is the teach-back method?
Under the National CLAS Standards, language-assistance services should be provided to patients at this cost.
What is no cost to the patient?
Before selecting a communication method for a patient with a disability, the pharmacist should first ask this question.
What is “How do you prefer to communicate?”
Language, disability, transportation, cost, and confusing healthcare systems may all create these obstacles.
What are barriers to access?
When a patient’s language, disability, transportation, or financial need cannot be fully addressed in the pharmacy, connecting the patient with an appropriate service demonstrates this pharmacist action.
What is a referral?
Designing communication so it is understandable to everyone instead of trying to identify which patients have limited health literacy reflects this approach.
What are universal health-literacy precautions?
These national standards guide healthcare organizations in providing effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful care responsive to cultural and language needs.
What are the National CLAS Standards?
Sign-language interpretation, captioning, and other communication supports are commonly described by this term.
What are auxiliary aids and services?
A policy or organizational practice that routinely disadvantages a population is this type of barrier rather than an individual patient failure.
What is a structural barrier?
Working with patients, caregivers, interpreters, prescribers, and other professionals to maintain safe care demonstrates this function.
What is care coordination?
A pharmacy simplifies forms, improves signs, trains staff, and makes services easier to navigate. This shifts responsibility from the patient to this level.
What is organizational health literacy?
Providing qualified interpreters, translated materials, staff training, and evaluation demonstrates this organization-wide process.
What is implementing culturally and linguistically appropriate services?
Designing pharmacy environments, information, and services so they can be used by people with varied abilities from the beginning demonstrates this approach.
What is universal design?
Transportation, education, housing, technology, and healthcare policies are considered together when decisions are made. This reflects this APHA approach.
What is Health in All Policies?
A pharmacy reviews population needs, establishes language and disability-access services, trains staff, and evaluates whether communication-related errors decrease.
What is population-based pharmacy practice?