Health Literacy Summit: Follow Up

The Health Literacy Summit, held on June 2-3 in Knoxville, was attended by 40 people from 9 states and one Canadian province. States included Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, New York, Illinois and Colorado. The participants included 15 librarians, physicians, nurses and members of the public health community.

The nationally renowned speakers, Drs. Baur and Rudd held everyone’s attention with their in-depth of knowledge and perspective on the history and progress made in the discipline of health literacy over the last few decades. The leadership that The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) Health Information Center is providing on this topic was also on stage. Health Information Center faculty librarians spoke of the Health Literacy research they recently conducted, utilizing an engaging method of timed poster presentations.  The Medical Simulation Center provided in depth knowledge about their research on the use of simulation to enhance the oral communication skills of residents, while Pharmacy and Patient Education team members provided a panel on evaluating print patient education material. The event not only promoted learning, but provided great discussion. The breakout groups allowed for further expansion on different health literacy topics along with further discussion.

The overall focus of the event was on assessing and promoting changes in the healthcare system to reduce barriers for low health literacy patients.  This topic is expansive, but by focusing in on the attributes of organizations that can reduce those barriers, and providing assessment tools by which to measure those assessments, participants left with information they could apply.

For more information on the speakers and topics, please see here: http://gsm.utmck.edu/cme/Literacy2017/

If you missed this year’s Summit, watch for notices for the 2018 event!

Developed resources reported in this Health Literacy Summit are supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH) under cooperative agreement number UG4LM012340 with the University of Maryland, Health Sciences and Human Services Library. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.