To the Editor:
I enjoyed reading the well-written piece about health literacy (“Hidden variables: Why patients may misunderstand written screening tools”) in the September 2011 issue of JAAPA. I appreciated the authors' efforts to look at ways to improve patient care.
It's important to note that health literacy is not just about “getting patients smarter.” Definitions of health literacy continue to expand, with “health information literacy” emerging as a broadened way to view this thorny issue. While reading and numerical literacy undoubtedly play significant roles in contributing to this problem, framing the issue in a “universal precautions” understanding, as recently proposed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, helps take the onus off of patients and encourages partnerships between providers and patients.
Literacy is not just the job of the patient--it's also the job of the PA to advance our own literacy level to reduce the chronic problem of patients not clearly understanding what it is we want them to do. This cuts across all levels of reading and numerical literacy, with patients from all backgrounds demonstrating difficulty comprehending our diagnoses, instructions, suggestions, and plans of care.
Jim Anderson, PA-C, ATC
Seattle, Washington