Health Literacy Education for Undergraduate Health Professions Students: A Call to Action

Abstract

The responsibility for producing safe and competent health care professionals rests with educators who periodically evaluate and modify curricula to meet program outcomes (Atcherson, Zraick & Hadden, 2017; Coleman, Peterson-Perry, & Bumsted, 2016; Kennard, 2016; Mosley & Taylor, 2017; Toronto & Weatherford, 2015). The association between client safety and effective communication is increasingly recognized in research (Wolf & Bailey, 2009). Communication strategies used to help clients understand and follow health teachings are fundamental to health literacy (HL) education (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2017). Recently, more health professions educators are integrating necessary HL concepts and evaluating the effectiveness of curricular efforts (Massey et al., 2017). Despite increasing integration of HL concepts into the curricula, teaching strategies and evaluation efforts vary greatly, in part due to the heterogeneity encompassed by the term “health professions education.” In the United States, the education continuum spans from the undergraduate (2-year and 4-year college degrees and pre-professional education; Campus Explorer, 2018) to the postgraduate or professional degrees of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and others. Because we teach in a 4-year nursing program, we use the term “undergraduate” to describe students who have not yet completed their baccalaureate degrees.

Keywords

• health literacy
• health care professionals