One question to assess literacy skills

You know a patient with poor functional health literacy skills could have trouble following the health care plan.  But how can you identify who is at risk?  The patient’s education level does not always reflect literacy skills.  If you ask, “Can you read?” you probably won’t get an accurate answer.

Here’s one question you can ask that will reveal issues with health literacy:

How often do you need to have someone help you when you read instructions, pamphlets, or written material from your doctor?

1 – never

2 – rarely

3 – sometimes

4 – often

5 – always

Scores greater than 2 were considered  positive, indicating some difficulty with reading printed health related material.

This question could be included in the initial admission interview, which would pick up a problem early and facilitate individualization of teaching throughout the hospitalization.

The source is:

Chew, Lisa; Bradley, Katharine; Boyko, Edward.  (2004).  Brief Questions to Identify Patients with inadequate health literacy. Family Medicine 36 (8): 588-94.

http://www.stfm.org/fmhub/fm2004/September/Lisa588.pdf