Health literacy training for dental students

In recent years, there has been an increased awareness of health literacy and its impact on health outcomes. Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the skills to obtain, process and understand basic health information necessary to make appropriate health decisions. Health care professionals have the opportunity to effectively communicate with patients and help those with low health literacy. To achieve this goal, health care providers require adequate training and education to develop skills necessary to identify patients with low literacy skills and develop appropriate coping solutions. Ideally, this training should be part of the educational curriculum. This presentation will discuss the finding of a survey assessing senior dental student's knowledge about health literacy and it's implication for curriculum development in dental education.