Health Literacy and Clear Communication: Fundamentals of Empowerment through Health Information

Health Literacy and Clear Communication: Fundamentals of Empowerment through Health Information

Date: Wednesday, February 7, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Presenters: Cliff Coleman, M.D., M.P.H., is a national and international expert in the field of health literacy. His award-winning work focuses on improving health literacy and clear communication training for healthcare professionals through systems approaches, including curriculum design and evaluation. Cliff is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine, where he serves as Clinical Thread Director for education on health communication, professionalism, and ethics. In 2021, Cliff became the inaugural Doris and Mark Storms Chair in Compassionate Communication at the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care.

Learning Objectives: Webinar Description Low health literacy can affect anyone, but disproportionately impacts underserved populations, and individuals with lived experience. Health care professionals often receive inadequate training about the importance of health literacy and the clear communication techniques which can help improve outcomes for patients and caregivers. This webinar highlights some of the ways that low health literacy impacts individuals’ and population health. It offers a “universal precautions” solutions-based remedy, and introduces five clear communication best practices for achieving better health outcomes. Learning Objectives • Anticipate health literacy challenges faced by patients and caregivers. • Describe reasons why a “universal precautions” approach to health communication is needed when working with all patients and caregivers. • Describe five clear communication best practices for improving patients’ and caregivers’ understanding.