Patient Education Management Archives – July 1, 2007

July 1, 2007

• Qualified interpreters improve health literacy and patient safety

  To improve health literacy the use of trained interpreters must be common practice when health care practitioners are communicating with patients who are not proficient in English.

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• Techniques for educating with the aid of an interpreter

  There are many basic practices that improve teaching encounters between health care practitioners and patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).

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• Don't overlook patients with low health literacy

  Patients are being put at risk because important health care information is communicated in medical jargon that exceeds their literary skills, according to a new white paper from The Joint Commission.

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• Collaborative aimed at hospital communication

  A new program from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) called "Effective Communication in Hospitals" is designed to aid hospitals in meeting the communication needs of individuals who do not speak English as their primary language, or who are deaf or hard of hearing.

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• Change of shift high-risk for ED patients

  Both nurses and physicians are at high risk for communication lapses during change of shift, says Francis L. Counselman, MD, chairman and program director for the department of emergency medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

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