Mary Ann Abrams, MD, MPH, is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She previously led Iowa Health System’s (now UnityPoint Health) health literacy quality initiative and development of Health Literacy Iowa. Dr. Abrams is also author of Building Health Literate Organizations: A Guidebook to Achieving Organizational Change. Cynthia (Cyndi) Hall MHA, CPHQ, works at the Carolinas Healthcare System, rolling out health literacy education to more than 500 medical offices. As Project Manager for her organization’s “Teach Well” educational program, Cyndi inspires teammates to use proven health literacy techniques and best practices. Shelby Chapman, MA is the Health Literacy Program manager at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This program encompasses patient/family education for the whole system, affecting change throughout the organization.
In this podcast, Mary Ann Abrams, Cyndi Hall, and Shelby Chapman talk with Helen Osborne about:
- Thinking big about health literacy. Examples of system-wide, sustainable changes to help make health literacy a part of an organization’s culture.
- Lessons learned about key factors such as making a case for health literacy, engaging others, and measuring and documenting success.
- Tips and recommendations for thinking big at YOUR organization.
More ways to learn:
- Abrams MA, Kurtz-Ross S, Riffenburgh A, Savage B. Building Health Literate Organizations: A Guidebook to Achieving Organizational Change. Health. At http://www.unitypoint.org/health-literacy-guidebook.aspx
- Brach, C, Keller D, Hernandez LJ, et al. Ten Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations discussion paper from the Institute of Medicine’s Health Literacy Roundtable. At https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BPH_Ten_HLit_Attributes.pdf
- “A Conversation About the Always Use Teach-back! Toolkit (HLOL #93).” A Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview w Mary Ann Abrams, Suzanne Rita, and Gail Nielsen. At /2013/03/19/a-conversation-about-the-always-use-teach-back-toolkit-hlol-93/
- “Attributes of Health Literate Organizations (HLOL #82),” a Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with Cindy Brach. At /2012/08/14/health-literacy-out-loud-82-attributes-of-health-literate-organizations/
- “Archie Willard Talks About Struggling to Read (HLOL #3),” a Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview. At /2008/10/20/archie-willard-what-its-like-to-be-a-struggling-reader/
Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition (Updated 2018), by Helen Osborne. Relevant chapters include: 1, 4, 27
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