AHRQ Health Literacy Toolkit Available

In its 2004 Report “Health literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion,” the Institute of Medicine indicated that 90 million adults in America have literacy skills that test below high school level.  Concerned with the scope of this problem, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) commissioned the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop and test a Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, which was recently released through the AHRQ website.  The toolkit offers primary care practices a way to assess their services for health literacy considerations, raise awareness of the entire staff, and work on specific areas.  It includes a Quick Start Guide, a Path to Improvement (6 steps to take to implement the toolkit), 20 Tools (2-5 pages each), and a number of appendices with over 25 resources such as sample forms, PowerPoint presentations, and worksheets.