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In this editorial article in the BMJ recently, Professor Theo Raynor discusses the impact of health literacy and asks whether it is time to shift our focus from patient to provider. Professor Raynor discusses the importance of increasing people's ability to understand and engage in their healthcare, the impact of health literacy on health outcomes and the challenges of assesing someone's health literacy and ability to understand during a consultation. Professor Raynor moves on to talk about the importance of clear, simple and understandable information for patients and the public; information that is tested with users and which uses plain language. There is also some discussion of the lack of UK policy in such a key area.

The objective of this research was to investigate the association between low functional health literacy (ability to read and understand basic health related information) and mortality in older adults. The researchers concluded that one third of older adults in England have difficulties reading and understanding basic health related written information. Poorer understanding is associated with higher mortality. The limited health literacy capabilities within this population have implications for the design and delivery of health related services for older adults in England.

The Picker Institute in the USA launched the concept of Always Events© as an 'organising principle' to drive healthcare systems to become more patient-centered. Within the initiative, the Iowa Health System has developed a teach-back training toolkit. The aim is to ensure that clinicians and physicians always use teach-back strategies to help patients understand their healthcare instructions before discharge. During teach-back, the nurse asks open-ended questions in a non-shaming way so it doesn't sound like a test. The patients say back in their own words their healthcare instructions. This enables the nurse to check for understanding and, if necessary, to re-teach the information, and check again for understanding.

eHealth literacy is defined as the ability of people to use emerging information and communications technologies to improve or enable health and health care. The goal of this study was to explore whether literacy disparities are diminished or enhanced in the search for health information on the Internet. The study showed that those who were highly eHealth literate tended to be younger and more educated than their less eHealth-literate counterparts. They were also more active consumers of all types of information on the Internet, used more search strategies, and scrutinized information more carefully than did the less eHealth-literate respondents. Finally, respondents who were highly eHealth literate gained more positive outcomes from their information search.

Patients with higher health literacy trended toward having greater self-care confidence, which can increase the likelihood of performing self-care, but this finding was not statistically significant. It was unexpected to find that lower health-literate patients performed more self-care management.

This research reports on an assessment of the literacy environment of 10 hospitals in Catalonia, Spain, to indentify factors that hinder or support the ability of people to make their way to and within, a hospital. Analysis of results indicates insecurity and confusion in finding one's way throughout health care facilities. Readability assessment of selected health education materials and informed consent documents shows extensive use of scientific language that is inappropriate for the general public.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) with support from a broad range of experts from the health and education sectors, has published a report on health literacy in primary schools. Although children are often aware of specific health messages, these messages are not always promoted in a broader context. Consequently children are not equipped with the skills needed to evaluate health and lifestyle choices effectively, or to assess the risks associated with new experiences. The report concludes that the priority should be to develop a coherent methodology for teaching health literacy, and to provide training for teachers to enable them to implement that methodology.

Almost half of all Europeans show inadequate or problematic levels of health literacy, according to the results of the European Health Literacy Survey published this week. The survey provided first-time population data on health literacy across eight European countries. It measured the ability of people to access, understand, analyse, and apply health information to take informed decisions allowing them to maintain their health, prevent diseases and seek treatment in case of illness. The results show that on average 47% of people surveyed across these eight countries have limited health literacy and also illustrates that the lower the health literacy in a particular country, the poorer the health of its citizens.

The Institute for Health Improvement in the US is running a health literacy webinar, which aims to help health care organization's efforts to communicate and engage more effectively with patients of diverse backgrounds and health care fluency. Speakers will also discuss discuss where and how health literacy efforts stand to benefit from health care reform and what it's going to take to close communication gaps that still remain for millions of Americans. The webinar takes place November 17 2011.

Older adults generally have low health and computer literacies, making it challenging for them to function well in the eHealth era where technology is increasingly being used in health care. The study involved 2 weeks of learning about using the National Institutes of Health's SeniorHealth.gov website to access reliable health information. The intervention took place at public libraries. Overall, participants' knowledge, skills, and eHealth literacy efficacy all improved significantly from pre to post intervention. Regardless of the specific learning method used, participants had overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward the intervention and reported positive changes in participation in their own health care as a result of the intervention.