Plain Language and the Teach Back Method

This workshop will cover two strategies for implementing a universal precaution approach to health literacy in your everyday work. There are times when patients can feel like their providers are speaking “medicalese” which can create challenges for them to adhere to preventative and treatment plans. Very often our patients / consumers will not let us know or we miss the “red flags” for low health literacy is impacting their comprehension.

You will learn how to incorporate plain language in all of your written and oral communications without “dumbing it down”. These strategies can be applied to your day to day operations including:

· patient history forms,

· patient portals to your,

· scheduling of appointments

· Oral communication (visits, on the phone)

Plain language strategies can be applied to increase patients’ capacity to understand and make informed health decisions.

The Teach Back Method is a universal precaution strategy to improve communication and comprehension with patients in regard to their health, including treatment plans. This method can be utilized by all staff members and can lead to reduced missed appointment rates, increased medication adherence, and etc.