The impact of health illiteracy is huge among American patients, as well as, patients across the world. Strategies to address low health literacy have not been very successful because of the confusion that exists between concept and healthcare outcomes. As leaders and role models in the healthcare setting, and as well tasked with providing solutions to the problems that face healthcare delivery, the advanced nurse practitioners are mandated to propose strategies to address low literacy levels and enhance the safety of the patients. Communication plays a very pivotal role in addressing low literacy patients. If the strategies for addressing low literacy levels are linked and devised in connection to communication to the patients effectively, greater results will be realized in tackling this challenge.

Addressing the Patient’s communication needs during the continuum of care is a major strategy for addressing low literacy level (The Joint Commission, 2007). In both preventive and curative stages of care, the healthcare providers ought to communicate to the patients with plain, uncomplicated language that patients can understand. According to the Joint Commission (2007, p. 7), the informed consent process ought to be carried out in an understandable manner, including simple language in both verbal and written materials. Further, individual patients must be taught on how to locate health information, and be directed to websites that use plain and simple language to explain concepts (Egbert & Nanna, 2009).

Another strategy towards addressing low health literacy is making effective communication a strategy of the organization. The administrators of the health institution need to create awareness of the impact of low health literacy and the benefits of addressing them through effective communication (The Joint Commission, 2007). Egbert and Nanna (2009) advise that an organization should train its staff to respond swiftly to patients with low literacy levels and language needs. In addition, the healthcare providers, inclusive of the advanced nurse practitioners ought to provide patient-care environments that stress the use of effective communication while handling patients. In the cases where English proficiency is low, the advanced nurse practitioners, as well as, other members of the healthcare team need to adopt the use of reliable interpreters for the benefit of the patients. All in all, the health administrators need to create and promote organizational culture that promote quality, value and safety in regard to patient-centered communications.

Policy changes can also be explored to better patient-practitioner relationships and communications, as a measure of addressing low literacy levels among patients. According to the Joint Commission (2007, p. 9), policies can be enacted to enable the health system to refer low literacy patients to adult learning center, and follow them to assist them with the enrollment process. In line with policy changes, partnerships among the health practitioners can be instituted to create consultation platforms on the best ways to assist the low literacy patients. Such forums will provide the advanced nurse practitioners and other healthcare providers opportunities to compare notes, leading to improvement of outcomes in regard to low literacy levels.

In sum, advanced nurse practitioners, as leaders in the healthcare sector have a mandate to address the challenge of low literacy among patients. Communication is the core aspect of addressing low literacy levels in healthcare institutions. Members of the healthcare fraternity ought to prioritize effective communication in their systems. Further, the administrators can initiate policies that support patient-practitioner communication to enhance understanding. Finally, the stakeholders need to support the communication frameworks to ensure they facilitate easy and simple language for promotion of patient safety.

References

Egbert, N., & Nanna, K. (2009). Health literacy: Challenges and strategies. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3).

The Joint Commission. (2007). What did the doctor say? Improving health literacy to protect patient safety. Ilinois, IL: Author.