Are We Missing the Cues? Medical-surgical Nurse's Abilities to Predict Patient Health Literacy Level in a Rural Border Hospital

Poster abstract: Registered nurses (RNs) play a critical role in the patient education process. Unfortunately, health literacy (HL) is not a concept fully explored during nursing school or in the practice environment. RN’s were overwhelmingly unable to identify their patient’s HL level (n=59) in the absence of a standardized HL assessment tool. Further, education level, years of experience and familiarity with the concept of HL were not significant predictors of the RN’s ability to determine their patient’s HL level. Healthcare systems should provide continuing education on the concept of HL and how to effectively screen for low HL in their patient population.