Health Literacy and Medical Education

The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the state of health literacy education in the health care professions and to provide resources that will be useful to individuals who are interested in personal development or would like to facilitate improvement in the systems in which care is delivered on a daily basis. Core competencies for effective communication between patient and provider are discussed first, followed by a review of strategies that have been used to change health care provider’s behaviors and the outcomes of these efforts. A brief discussion of the science of learning is included to demonstrate how educational gaps can be filled using evidence-based strategies.