How-To Tips
Each month, Helen Osborne posts tips about how to communicate health information more clearly. Here is a listing of some recent HLC (Health Literacy Consulting) How-To Tips:
- Confirm Understanding: Teach-Back June 1, 2023It is vital that we as health communicators confirm that our messages are truly understood. Two important ways to do this are with teach-back (for the spoken word) and feedback (for print and web information). This month’s How-To Tip looks at teach-back. This is a back-and-forth verbal exchange used to assess whether both sides of a ...read more >>
- Communicating with People from Other Cultures and Languages May 1, 2023Accessing, using, and understanding the U.S. healthcare system is difficult for almost everyone. But for people who speak limited English or come from other cultures, these tasks might seem impossible. In terms of language, it can take people many years to become fluent. With limited English, people may have sufficient social language to talk about ...read more >>
- Communicating with People Who Have Mild Memory Loss April 1, 2023Health communication is often a challenge. There can be new terms for patients to learn, numbers to understand, and hard choices to make about treatment and care. When a person has mild memory loss or other cognitive challenge, communication that was already difficult may now be even harder. Here are some tips to help: Consider why ...read more >>
- Communicating with People Who Have Hearing Loss March 1, 2023It is important to communicate clearly with everyone, including those who have hearing loss. Hearing loss ranges from being hard of hearing (mild hearing loss) to being deaf (total hearing loss). People who are deaf from birth often identify as Deaf (with an uppercase “D”) to indicate that they are part of a specific cultural ...read more >>
- Know Your Audience: Communicating with People Who Have Vision Loss February 1, 2023The term vision loss refers to “individuals who reported that they have trouble seeing, even when wearing glasses or contact lenses, as well as to individuals who report that they are blind or unable to see at all,” according to the American Foundation for the Blind. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that public facilities, ...read more >>
- Why Health Literacy Matters January 1, 2023Health literacy is at the forefront of many current health initiatives. That’s great, of course. But I sometimes wonder why it’s getting more attention than in years past. Here are my musings about why health literacy matters today: Patients need to understand health information quickly because they have less direct contact with their providers. This can include ...read more >>
- The Caring Part of Healthcare December 1, 2022Many of us chose the work we do because of a desire to help others. But this intent can sometimes get overlooked midst an overwhelming amount of workplace demands. Here are some tips to help you focus again on the caring part of healthcare. Caring for others. Demonstrate caring not just with your words but also ...read more >>
- Improve Your Health Literacy – NextAvenue.org November 15, 2022“Improve Your Health Literacy,” by Debbie L. Miller. Posted November 3, 2022 in the national publication for older adults, NextAvenue.org. I was honored to be interviewed for this online article about health literacy. It highlights many aspects that affect older adults. These include health literacy skills, tips for patients, and how teamwork helps. Click the article’s ...read more >>
- Helping Patients Problem Solve November 1, 2022The more I hear from family and friends about medical mishaps, the more convinced I am that patients need yet another skill—the ability to independently problem solve what to do in unplanned or unfamiliar situations. Some musings about how health professionals can help patients problem solve: Appreciate that patients will have “oops” moments. Perhaps a patient forgets to ...read more >>
- Brief Recap of Health Literacy History October 1, 2022Curious to know how, when, why, and who helped health literacy get started, a while ago I posted a query on the online Health Literacy Discussion list. Here is a brief recap of what people shared about the history of health literacy. 1974. The first mention of the term “health literacy” was in a monograph by ...read more >>
- Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Other Healthcare Shorthand September 1, 2022Imagine what it’s like to be suddenly injured or ill. You or your family member calls 911. EMTs arrive and take you to the nearest ER or ED. You or someone in your family is given a lot of paperwork, including HIPAA notification. The doctors and nurses say you need an IV, MRI, EKG, and CT scan. And all this before being admitted to the ICU. Now ...read more >>
- Using Visuals to Teach August 1, 2022Maybe you know visual learners like me—people who learn best when watching demonstrations or seeing drawings and photographs. Visuals can go a long way toward helping others understand health care concepts and instructions. Here are some how-to’s: Acquire the artwork you need. There are many ways to acquire needed artwork. You might begin by looking online for ...read more >>
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