Examining medical students' attitudes regarding health literacy issues in clinical practice

Communication is an essential part of healthcare delivery. However, there is often a mismatch between a clinician's level of communication and a patient's level of comprehension. Evidence shows that patient's misunderstanding of information received from clinicians may lead to medical errors, missed appointments, poor adherence to medical advice, adverse health outcomes and malpractice lawsuits. It is important to educate medical students on issues of health literacy, its impact on patient care, and to prepare them to communicate effectively with their patients. To enhance medical students' understanding of community medicine, all third year medical students at Jefferson Medical College (n=137) completed an educational module on health literacy during their required family medicine clerkship. The program included a one hour seminar; reading materials; online prevalence calculator; and completion of a reflection essay about a recent patient interaction. Qualitative analysis of student reflection papers was performed to identify the key related to health literacy and its impact on patient care. Themes include: raised awareness of the prevalence of health literacy issues; strategies for identifying and communicating with patients with health literacy issues; and the value of those approaches on medical care and patient-provider relationships. This education module is effective in raising awareness and preparing students to assess and address health literacy issues to enhance patient care.