Health Literate Patient Education Handouts to Reduce Health Disparities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has created a need for people to access, understand, apply and internalize health information rapidly. It is essential that patients be Health Literacy proficient - to be able to obtain, comprehend and take action to prevent Covid-19 contagion and/or avoid spreading it as well as changing everyday behaviors and practices. As this was a novel coronavirus, patient education information needed to be created and disseminated expediently.

Description: The Health Sciences Library and Patient Education Dept recognize that patient education materials in Plain Language and other Health Literacy best practices ensure that patients from vulnerable populations understand Covid-19 information and precautions. Physicians, nurses, librarians and health literacy specialists teamed up in a swift and highly coordinated manner with clinicians and administrators from various areas and departments to create our growing collection of handouts. Accessible across campuses through our digital Patient Education Handouts Library and via the EHR, many of these handouts were translated into several languages (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, etc.) for enhanced accessibility to more patients and families.

Conclusion: Covid-19 has been disproportionately affecting communities of color and other vulnerable populations. When patients from these populations have understandable and accessible patient education information, they are empowered to keep their families safe and their neighborhoods as well. These efforts diffuse into the community at large and can mitigate spread, despite larger systemic issues that can make these communities more susceptible. These efforts are essential for reducing health disparities.

The library and Patient Ed Dept. intend to expand their goal of helping make the parent institution a Health Literate Health Care Organization – creating and providing access to patient-centered materials for improved health outcomes and health equity.