Session summary: Health literacy is increasingly recognized in the United States as a fundamental patient safety and public health issue. There are many calls to improve health literacy on national agendas like Healthy People 20230, and IHA developed a health literacy specialist certificate program to address workforce training. However, there are no mandatory accreditation standards for teaching health literacy concepts in health professional curricula (e.g. medical and nursing education), resulting in random and disparate methods, if addressed at all. This roundtable will share insights on how different educational programs provide health literacy skills training, inclusive of K-12, undergraduate, and graduate/professional health programs.
Learning Objectives:
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Describe three challenges caused by the lack of standardized health literacy training for rising health professionals.
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Apply five best practices and resources for health literacy skills training in different educational settings.
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Examine three pros and three cons of advocating for health literacy training standards.