Health Literacy Concepts in Nursing Education

Abstract

The impact of low health literacy on the health care system is astronomical. The ability to learn, retain, and apply health information is greatly affected by health literacy and thus greatly affects patient outcomes. The responsibility of patient education is mostly shouldered by nurses and yet nursing is the discipline that is most lacking in knowledge and awareness about health literacy. Providing nursing students with the necessary tools to assess patient health literacy and to assess their own patient teaching is a vital component of patient education. Nursing curricula is the place to start.