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Health & Genetic Literacy

Two types of services are provided, Health and Genetic Literacy and Literacy-Appropriate Translation of Medical Information: 

- Health and Genetic Literacy

Consultation and training to address health and/or genetic literacy, especially as it relates to patient care. Leveraging expertise from CKM team members with backgrounds in diverse areas including information science, the biomedical sciences, medicine, and public health, the CKM team contributes to initiatives aimed at improving patient care at VUMC by enhancing access to easy-to-understand health information.  Previous work by the CKM team includes federally funded research to evaluate a paradigm for optimizing the delivery of patient information by tailoring content to health literacy and learning style preferences.  CKM aims to support initiatives to improve both personal and organizational health literacy through its health and genetic literacy consultation and training service. 

Objective

To gain familiarity with a wide range of health and genetic literacy topics, including, but not limited to:

  • current state of health literacy;
  • available resources and tools such as readability formulas and clear communication style development guides;
  • methods to create patient friendly material for individuals with a variety of learning styles;
  • numeracy; and
  • issues of genetic literacy.

 

Primary Contact(s) Credentials

Taneya Koonce, MSLS, MPH

Helen Naylor, MS

 

- Translation of Medical and Genetic Information

The Center for Knowledge Management (CKM) has expertise in not only translating information for patients, but also in helping clinicians better communicate with patients.  With individuals that have advanced degrees in science and medicine, as well as research and practical experience in the fields of health literacy, genetic literacy and learning styles, we are uniquely qualified to aid the medical center in communicating information to lay audiences.  By tailoring information for a targeted audience, you improve their ability to understand the information and communicate it to others.  

In addition to translating information, we also train anyone who wants to improve their ability to communicate to those outside of their field, be it other clinicians and researchers, patients or consumers, or the media.

 

Primary Contact(s) Credentials

Helen Naylor, MS