bridging the healthcare literacy language gap

Bridging the Healthcare Literacy Language Gap –

Key Strategies for 2010

Agenda

1. Introductions

2. Meeting the Challenges of Health Literacy

3. Best Practices in Translating for LEP

4. Avoiding Pitfalls of Mass Translation

5. Closing - Q & A

Your Presenters

Moderator: Scott Herber, viaLanguage Executive Vice President•

Manages viaLanguage’s Sales Channels •

24 years experience in technology and software management•

Focus on communications in the Enterprise and healthcare markets

Chanin Ballance, viaLanguage, President and CEO •

Co-founder, President and CEO of viaLanguage •

She frequently speaks about multicultural marketing and global language translation

•

Published in industry publications like iMedia Connection, Inside Healthcare, Healthcare Market Advisor and many more

Magdalyn Covitz Patyk, MS, RN, BC•

Manager of Patient & Family Education at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL.

•

Currently a consulting editor for Patient Education Management•

Focus on patient education systems/resources and oversees outpatient perinatal education classes

Introduction to Health LiteracyIntroduction to Health Literacy

• Not new• Personal health • Economic

inefficiencies

Challenge of Health Literacy

What is Health Literacy?

The ability to understand and use health information to make healthcare decisions and follow treatment instructions.

•Medical Consents

•Preps for tests and procedures

•Hospital discharge instructions

Who is Our Target Audience?

Target Audience Includes:• Limited English Proficiency

• English- primary language, low literacy

• Sophisticated healthcare consumer

Impacts to Cost of Care

• Healthcare expenditures higher for those in the lowest 20% of literacy(Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2003)

• Low functional literacy resulted in an estimated $32 to $58 billion in additional health care costs. (Center for Health Care Strategies, 2005.)

• Patients with inadequate literacy are twice as likely to be hospitalized as those with adequate literacy — (32% vs. 15%).(Journal of General Internal Medicine, 1998)

(Center for Health Care Strategies, 2005)

How to Measure Readability Readability Formulas

• Fry-best for health-related teaching materials• Flesch Reading Ease & Flesch-Kincaid Grade level (MS Word)• Others:

– SMOG– Gunning Fog– Fog Readability Test

• Multilingual Formulas– Huerta Reading Ease

Introduction to Health LiteracyMeeting the Challenges

Meeting the Challenges-Tips

Use these Four (4) Steps to Effective Patient Education

1. Assessment (barriers to learning, knowledge base)2. Planning (what, when, how)3. Implementation

• Strategies• Communication skills

4. Evaluation of education intervention

Key Components

• Involve S/O• Compensate for/ address barriers to learning• Address patient concerns first• Contract learning objectives, mutual goal setting• Provide clear, direct and focused messaging• Take advantage of the “teachable moments”• Evaluate learn through:

– Teach-back method– Problem-center approach

Introduction to Health LiteracyBest Practices - Translating for LEP

Translation for LEP

• Identify language and culture• Provide reference information in the patient’s

primary language• Work with professional translators; Native

speakers with medical subject matter expertise.

Ensure Consistency

• Primary Tools = Glossary and Style Guides

Why Translation Memory• Ensures consistent use and reuse of approved

terms at target readability level

Pilot & Community Review

• Glossary Development: select booklet that contains phrases frequently found in other documents - TURP

• Community Testing: 50 page Transplant Booklet with native speaker

Introduction to Health LiteracyAvoiding Pitfalls of Mass Translation

What do you really Need? Assessment

• Does it need to be translated?

• What is the priority?

• Can the content be– Abbreviated or

shortened? – Replaced with

pictures?

Organize

• Develop comprehensive spread sheet• Finalize content• Indentify :

– Translation company files requirements – Source of the final desk-top publishing– Deliverable file needs- high & low

resolution files- hard copy or print on – demand

• Naming of files

Example - File Structure

• In Design not Quark

• Fewer Fonts

• Make sure a QA of final is included

Avoid Costly Redesign

Recycle Your Translation

• Set up Translation Memory in advance• Prioritize large batches if you can and

centralize

**Saves Time, Money and Improves Consistency

Resources

• The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning http://www.cael.org/adultlearninginfocus_map.htm

• National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions

• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention/Office of Communication www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions

• Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) Resources on healthcare for racially/ethnically diverse populations

• Family PACT www.familypact.org

• Health Literacy Introductory Kit www.amafoundation.org/go/healthliteracy

Contact Us

www.viaLanguage.com

Blog: SpeakingHealthcare.com

twitter.com/viaLanguage

Facebook.com/viaLanguage

Email: Marketing@vialanguage.com