More Effort Is Needed To Ensure Patients Understand Doctors' Instructions

More Effort Is Needed To Ensure Patients Understand Doctors' Instructions

AHRQ Stats: Confirming Patients Understand Their Healthcare Instructions

Less than one-third (30 percent) of adults whose providers gave them healthcare instructions reported that they were always asked to describe the information in their own words, which is the first step of the “teach-back” method, an evidence-based technique providers can use to confirm patients understand their instructions. (Source: AHRQ, National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Data Spotlight: Health Literacy and the Teach-Back Method.)