Highlights
- •Health literacy is a key metric to improve patient health outcomes.
- •Limited English proficiency among primarily Spanish-speaking patients compounds health literacy concerns.
- •The administration of a Spanish single-item literacy tool and the documentation of literacy level is feasible within a primary care clinic visit.
- •The use of the Spanish single-item literacy tool increased the recognition and coding of limited health literacy in the electronic medical record.
Abstract
Health literacy assessment among individuals with limited English proficiency can
serve as an important metric to improve health outcomes. A quality improvement project
was conducted at a community health center in the Southeastern United States for the
purpose of assessing the feasibility of integrating a Spanish single-item literacy
screening tool into a clinic visit to assess health literacy among Spanish-speaking
patient populations. The tool was administered by clinic staff, and the results were
documented by providers through diagnostic coding. It was found that a Spanish single-item
literacy screening tool can identify individuals with limited health literacy and
increase documentation of this factor as a social determinant of health in the electronic
medical record.
Keywords
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References
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Biography
Margarita M. Marmolejo, DNP, FNP-C, is a nurse practitioner at St. Joseph/Candler, Good Samaritan Clinic in Garden City, GA (project location) and Hampton Roads Community Health Center in Portsmouth, VA (current affiliation). She can be contacted at [email protected]
Biography
Laura P. Kimble, PhD, FNP-C, is a clinical professor and assistant dean for clinical advancement at Emory University School of Nursing in Atlanta, GA.
Biography
Caroline Coburn, DNP, ANP-BC is an associate professor at Emory University School of Nursing.
Biography
Nidsa Baker, DNP, ANP-BC, is a nurse practitioner with St. Joseph/Candler, Good Samaritan Clinic.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 10, 2022
Footnotes
In compliance with standard ethical guidelines, the authors report no relationships with business or industry that would pose a conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
