Consult Series 401: Low Health Literacy

Risk Management Consult: Low Health Literacy
5 CME Category One Credits toward AMA Physician's Recognition Award

Information

The need for the program was determined from comments from previous seminar participants and from malpractice insurance statistics.

Goals

This course is based on actual malpractice cases. All cases are real, although the names of the primary parties have been changed. Risk management principles will be derived from the cases. After each case presentation, the liabilities inherent in that case will be analyzed, and relevant risk management principles will be presented.

Objectives

When they complete this course, participants should be able to:

1. Understand how low health literacy contributes to poor outcomes.
2. Identify communication barriers that can interfere with your patient's ability to comprehend medical instruction and participate in health care decisions.
3. Discuss how simplified communication practices can reduce medical errors, improve patient care, and reduce lawsuits.
4. Understand how the courts define your duty in a variety of situations you are likely to encounter when dealing with patients with low health literacy.
5. Discuss ways of educating patients with limited vocabularies and poor reading skills.
6. Discuss the drawbacks of using friends or family members to translate for patients who cannot speak English.
7. Understand how cultural factors can affect patient health literacy, and list strategies for coping with such factors.
8. Explain why it is important to provide sign language interpreters for deaf patients.

Target Audience

This seminar is designed for physicians of all specialties who want to sharpen their risk management skills. A basic knowledge of risk management and malpractice is assumed.

Faculty

This seminar was authored by Rosemary Gafner, Ed.D.

CME Information

This seminar is provided in partnership with Medical Risk Management, Inc.

Medical Risk Management, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing education to physicians. Medical Risk Management, Inc. designates this continuing medical education activity for a maximum of 5 Category 1 credit(s) toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.

This activity was planned and produced in accordance with the ACCME Standards for Enduring Materials.

Physicians who satisfactorily complete this seminar with a score of 80 percent or better will receive a certificate of completion that will document their participation in this program.

Required Time

Estimated study time: 4.5 hours
Estimated testing time: 30 minutes