Background/Purpose: Gaps in health literacy (HL) are associated with increased medication errors, higher health care costs, and inadequate care of chronic medical conditions. Previous studies have shown a large number of rheumatology patients have low HL. To address this, a Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (HLUPTK) has been developed for rheumatology practices (HLUPTK-R), including a Quick Start for patient encounters. The Quick Start consists of 3 tools: encouraging questions, the teach-back method, and brown-bag medication review. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the implementation of the HLUPTK-R Quick Start into academic rheumatology practices in the Carolina Fellows Collaborative (CFC).
Methods: At the winter meeting of the CFC, the HLUPTK-R Quick Start was introduced to participants through a 20 minute presentation and included an overview of HL. Prior to the presentation, the participants were asked to complete a questionnaire to evaluate their awareness of HL. After the presentation, participants were given paper and electronic versions of the HLUPTK-R Quick Start and asked to incorporate the Quick Start techniques into their rheumatology practice. Eight weeks later, the participants completed a second questionnaire which assessed their impression of the presentation and experience with incorporating the techniques into their practice.
Results: Eighteen participants filled out the pre-questionnaire and were present for the HLUPTK-R Quick Start and HL presentation. Sixteen participants (89%) knew what HL was prior to the presentation, with 10 having learned about HL during their residency training (56%). No participants stated they had previously learned about HL during their fellowship training. Only 6 participants (33%) believed their practice was currently promoting HL for their patients. The post-assessment questionnaire was returned by 13 participants (72%), all of whom incorporated HLUPTK-R Quick Start techniques into their practice. Ten (77%) of those who returned the post-questionnaire agreed that their knowledge of HL was improved and agreed that incorporating the HLUPTK-R Quick Start techniques made a positive impact on patient care. All 13 participants believed the Quick Start techniques were helpful in their practice. The encouraging questions technique was used by all participants who returned the post-questionnaire (13), 8 (62%) used the teach-back method, and 5 (39%) used the medication review technique. Seven participants (39%) thought incorporating the HL techniques added time to the patient’s visit. However, all 7 thought the extra time was “worth-while”. Lastly, all 13 participants stated they would continue to support interventions to promote HL in their practice.
Conclusion: By introducing the HLUPTK-R Quick Start to rheumatologists of the CFC, we were able to raise awareness and knowledge of HL. A majority of the participating rheumatologists used HL techniques into their practice, believed it was beneficial for their patients, and would support interventions to benefit HL in their practice. We advocate widespread dissemination of the HLUPTK-R Quick Start into rheumatology training programs.
Disclosure:
A. Dore,
None;
J. Dye,
None;
L. Hourani,
None;
B. Hackney,
None;
L. G. Criscione-Schreiber,
None;
F. N. Hant,
None;
K. S. O’Rourke,
None;
B. L. Jonas,
None;
L. F. Callahan,
None.
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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/incorporating-the-health-literacy-universal-precautions-toolkit-quick-start-in-academic-rheumatology-practices-carolina-fellows-collaborative/