Document Type
DNP Project
Publication Date
2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Faculty Advisor
Dorothea Esposito PhD(c), DNP MSN/ed, APRN, FNP-BC
Practice Mentor
Christopher DeFrancesco, DNP, AGNP
Abstract
Background: Health literacy is an important factor for healthcare outcomes. Measuring healthcare outcomes continues to be traditionally performed after implementation of interventions, however, the aspect of healthcare literacy pertaining to these outcomes is not always measured or evaluated. Understanding the patient’s health literacy can assist the provider to create and include individualized education at the patient’s knowledge level to increase comprehension, compliance, medication adherence and ultimately increase positive health outcomes.
Project Goals
1. Assess baseline literacy for the patients who appear in the practice for a visit over a three-month period.
2. Implementing the measurable METER tool which can provide a literacy score
3. Identify which patients score in the “low health literacy” after collecting data.
4. Provide tailored education to patients based on their health literacy scores from the METER tool to improve outcomes and level of comprehension, utilizing teach-back method.
Methods: The Health Belief framework (Janz & Becker, 1984) utilizes four dimensions; perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits and perceived barriers, to guide this projects implementation and evaluation of comprehension, with the completion of a health literacy assessment tool to measure the patients’ level of comprehension prior to the start of their visit.
Results: Survey results indicate 76% of patients demonstrate functional health literacy, 17% of patients demonstrate marginal health literacy, and 7% of patients demonstrate low health literacy.
Conclusion: Health literacy assessment may improve compliance, medication adherence, comprehension, ultimately leading to improved healthcare outcomes.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Rana, S. (2024). Bridging the gap in health literacy: A quality improvement project [Unpublished DNP project]. Sacred Heart University.
Comments
A DNP project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice, Sacred Heart University Davis & Henley College of Nursing. https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/dnp_projects/92