Health Literacy Training

ACU Launches Health Literacy Training Program

Loudoun County Community Health Center to Host Pilot

ACU will launch a new training program designed to teach health clinic staff how to incorporate best practices in health literacy, language access and cultural competency in caring for the underserved. The pilot program will be held in January, 2010 at Loudoun County Community Health Center, a federally qualified health care center in Leesburg, Va., serving those with limited or no insurance.

The two-day training will focus on improving patient-provider communication through the use of health literacy assessment tools, specific communication techniques for educating patients about their medications and medication labels, low-literacy health education materials and medical interpreters. Faculty conducting the training include Tawara Goode, MA, of the National Center for Cultural Competence, Christine Stevens, BBA, MPA, of Fairfax County (Va) Health Department, and Lois Wessel, CFNP of ACU.

The training is designed for all staff, including clinicians, social workers, health educators and administrative staff. ACU will use feedback from the participants to improve the course and will offer it in other locations and online in 2010.

The training program is based in part on ACU’s previous research on health literacy, language access and cultural competence in primary health care settings.

Funding to conduct the pilot program was provided by a generous contribution from sanofi-aventis. For more information on the training program, or to schedule training in your area, please contact Lois Wessel at lwessel@clinicians.org.