Literacy and health literacy - why they matter to health professionals

  • Debra B. Reed a Professor and Helen DeVitt Jones Chair in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.
Keywords: literacy, health literacy, patient education

Abstract

Low literacy and low health literacy affect people in all demographic strata and interfere with patients’ abilities to understand and act on information provided by health care
providers. Many print health education materials are written at reading levels well above those recommended. Thus, compliance to health messages is compromised, and health costs are increased. As medicine moves into new fields such as precision medicine, effective communication between patients and health care professionals becomes even more challenging and important.

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Author Biography

Debra B. Reed, a Professor and Helen DeVitt Jones Chair in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.
MD, pulmonary physician, expertise- clinical projects, ICU, COPD, general pulmonary medicine
Published
2016-10-12
How to Cite
Reed, D. B. (2016). Literacy and health literacy - why they matter to health professionals. The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles, 4(16), 71-75. Retrieved from https://pulmonarychronicles.com/index.php/pulmonarychronicles/article/view/322
Issue
Vol 4 No 16 (2016): The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles
Section
In The Clinic