Empowering organizations to empower patients: An organizational health literacy approach

Abstract

Background: Health literacy has been usually discussed as an individual trait, concerning the patient ability to navigate the health care service system. Alternatively, the organizational side of health literacy, or the ability of health care organizations to establish comfortable relationships with patients, has been widely overlooked. This manuscript is one of the first attempts to empirically examine organizational health literacy as a key attribute of health care organizations. Method: A convenience sample of municipal pharmacies operating within the Italian National Health Services was built. Their awareness of organizational health literacy issues and their ability to establish a co-creating relationship with their users were assessed through the Italian version of the Health Literacy Assessment Tool. Three domains were included in the assessment tool: (1) the accessibility of print informative materials used in the pharmacy; (2) the interpersonal communication between the pharmacy staff and the patients; and (3) the sensitivity of the pharmacy staff to health literacy issues. Results: The units of analysis were aware of the impacts of inadequate organizational health literacy on the ability of patients to understand and use health information; however, the organizational commitment to address the needs and the expectations of low health literate patients was limited among the units of analysis. Conclusions: Organizational health literacy is a crucial, but neglected issue among health care practitioners. There is a desperate need for an improvement of health care organizations’ friendliness, which is an essential ingredient in the recipe for patient empowerment

Which criteria characterize a health literate health care organization? – a scoping review on organizational health literacy

“… One medical center Oelschlegel et al, 2018, USA [ 85 ] Journal article (Case std.) One medical center Palumbo & Annarumma, 2018, Italy [ 86 ] Journal article (Assessment std.) 16 senior managers/staff members (16 pharmacies) Prince et al, 2018, USA [ 18 ] Journal article (Case std.)…”

“…[ 19 ]) or by selecting a subset of items or tools (e.g. [ 86 ] using the Pharmacy Health Literacy Assessment Tool [ 54 ]), translating the tool into a different language [ 83 ], extending and adapting the contents [ 73 ] or adapting the measures for a different type of method [ 64 ].…”

“…Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) [ 110 ] [ 84 ] 14. Pharmacy Health Literacy Assessment Tool [ 54 ] [ 54 , 61 , 86 ] 15. Quickscan Health Literacy Toolbox [ 111 ] [ 89 ] 16.…”

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