Assessing health literacy in safety net primary care practices

Renée L McCune; Hyunhwa Lee; Joanne M Pohl

doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2015.04.004

Assessing health literacy in safety net primary care practices

Appl Nurs Res. 2016 Feb:29:188-94. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2015.04.004. Epub 2015 Apr 18.

Authors

Renée L McCune¹, Hyunhwa Lee², Joanne M Pohl³

Affiliations

¹ University of Detroit Mercy, McAuley School of Nursing, 4001W. McNichols Road, Detroit, MI, 48221, USA. Electronic address: mccunere@udmercy.edu.
² University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA. Electronic address: hyunhwa.lee@unlv.edu.
³ The University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: jpohl@umich.edu.

PMID: 26856512
DOI: 10.1016/j.apnr.2015.04.004

Abstract

Health literacy is now recognized as a crucial element of patient safety. Measuring health literacy in busy primary care practices can be challenging. This article presents findings from a study in which a relatively recent tool, the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) was used in seven safety net primary care practices, five of which were nurse managed health centers. The NVS is a promising tool that could be used extensively in most primary care practices. Providers and staff felt the use of the NVS would be beneficial in identifying low health literacy patients. This study supported previous research on low health literacy as well as the predictors of health literacy. The study also confirmed the NVS as a tool that is efficient to administer while maintaining work flow.

Keywords: Health literacy; Newest Vital Sign; Nurse managed health centers; Primary care.

MeSH terms

Adult
Female
Health Literacy* / methods
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Primary Health Care / methods
Safety-net Providers*
Vital Signs*