Coleman Clifford A, Nguyen Nancy T, Garvin Roger, Sou Channbunmorl, Carney Patricia A
a Department of Family Medicine , Oregon Health & Science University , Portland , Oregon , USA.
b Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology , Oakland Medical Center , Oakland , California , USA.
J Health Commun. 2016;21 Suppl 1:51-7. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2015.1131774.
Health care providers, including medical residents, often lack adequate knowledge and skills to work effectively with patients who have limited health literacy. Little is known about the degree to which medical residents are trained to communicate effectively with people who have limited health literacy. This study aimed to assess the status of health literacy training for physicians in U.S. family medicine residency programs. We conducted an online survey of residency directors at 444 U.S. family medicine residencies. Among 138 respondents (31% response rate), 58 programs (42%) reported teaching residents about health literacy as part of the required curriculum. Most instruction occurred during the 1st year of training. Hours of instruction ranged from 2 to 5 during Years 1 through 3. Skills-based training (e.g., plain language techniques) was taught by most programs. Not having access to a faculty authority on health literacy was strongly associated with lack of a required health literacy curriculum. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that increasing health literacy training for medical students and residents would help improve residents' clinical skills. This study provides a baseline snapshot of health literacy curricula in U.S. family medicine residencies and likely overestimates the prevalence of such curricula. Additional studies are needed to determine the quality of health literacy instruction in U.S. family medicine residencies and the most effective methods for teaching residents about health literacy.
包括住院医师在内的医疗服务提供者，往往缺乏与健康素养有限的患者有效合作所需的足够知识和技能。对于住院医师接受培训以与健康素养有限的人进行有效沟通的程度，人们了解甚少。本研究旨在评估美国家庭医学住院医师培训项目中医生健康素养培训的现状。我们对美国444个家庭医学住院医师培训项目的主任进行了在线调查。在138名受访者（回复率31%）中，58个项目（42%）报告将向住院医师传授健康素养作为必修课程的一部分。大多数教学在培训的第一年进行。第1年至第3年的教学时长从2小时到5小时不等。大多数项目都教授基于技能的培训（如通俗易懂的语言技巧）。无法获得健康素养方面的师资权威与缺乏必修的健康素养课程密切相关。受访者压倒性地同意，增加医学生和住院医师的健康素养培训将有助于提高住院医师的临床技能。本研究提供了美国家庭医学住院医师培训项目中健康素养课程的基线概况，且可能高估了此类课程的普及率。需要进一步的研究来确定美国家庭医学住院医师培训项目中健康素养教学的质量以及教授住院医师健康素养的最有效方法。
