Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit

2. AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is proud to announce the publication of the Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. The toolkit is based on the principles of universal precautions, or specific actions that providers can take to make health information more understandable for all patients. It is designed to be used by all levels of staff in practices providing primary care for adults and/or pediatric patients.

The toolkit includes:
A Quick Start Guide
The Path to Improvement, which outlines the six steps to fully implement the toolkit
Twenty short tools to identify and address areas that need improvement

Links to Internet resources
An appendix with resources to support implementation, such as sample forms, posters, PowerPoint presentations, and worksheets.

The toolkit was developed for AHRQ by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Download a copy of the Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit from: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/literacy/.
You can also access an online version of the toolkit at: http://www.nchealthliteracy.org/toolkit

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Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit

Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit

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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality commissioned the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop and test this Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. The toolkit offers primary care practices a way to assess their services for health literacy considerations, raise awareness of the entire staff, and work on specific areas.

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What Are Health Literacy Universal Precautions?
Health literacy is the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate decisions. Over a third of patients have limited health literacy, which results in their not understanding what they need to do to take care of their health. Limited health literacy is associated with poor management of chronic diseases, poor ability to understand and adhere to medication regimes, increased hospitalizations, and poor health outcomes.

Universal precautions refers to taking specific actions that minimize risk for everyone when it is unclear which patients may be affected. For example, health care workers take universal precautions when they minimize the risk of bloodborne disease by using gloves and proper disposal techniques. Health literacy universal precautions are needed because providers don't always know which patients have limited health literacy.

How Can This Toolkit Help?
Experts recommend assuming that everyone may have difficulty understanding and creating an environment where all patients can thrive. Research suggests that clear communication practices and removing literacy-related barriers will improve care for all patients, regardless of their level of health literacy.

This toolkit is designed to help adult and pediatric practices ensure that systems are in place to promote better understanding by all patients, not just those you think need extra assistance. The toolkit is divided into manageable chunks so that its implementation can fit into the busy day of a practice. It contains the following:

•Quick Start Guide.
•Path to Improvement (6 steps to take to implement the toolkit).
•20 Tools (2-5 pages each).
•Appendices (over 25 resources such as sample forms, PowerPoint presentations, and worksheets).
Select to download a copy of the toolkit (PDF file, 3.9 MB; 227 pages; PDF Help).
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/literacy/healthliteracytoolkit.pdf

Additional resources related to this toolkit are located at: http://www.nchealthliteracy.org/toolkit/

AHRQ Publication No. 10-0046-EF
Current as of April 2010


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Internet Citation:

Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. AHRQ Publication No. 10-0046-EF, April 2010. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/literacy/index.html