Evidence reports that 60 percent of Australians don’t know how to find, understand and use information about their health and health care.
A person’s individual health literacy needs to be considered in the context of the demands they face when accessing and using our complex health system.
Low health literacy is associated with:
- higher rates of hospitalisation and emergency care
- higher rates of adverse outcomes generally
- lower uptake of preventative action for better health
- higher costs to the health system
- higher risk of premature death. (ACSQHC, 2014)
Health literacy has two components:
- Individual health literacy (a person’s skills and abilities and how well they can find, understand and act on health information, make health decisions and find and use health services)
- The health literacy environment (the systems, processes, people, information and practices that make up the health and health care industries and sector).
Victorian Primary Care Partnerships Online Health Literacy Course.
The course has been designed for Victorian health and human service organisations to build knowledge and skills in health literacy responsiveness.
The course is available free of charge at www.vicpcphealthliteracycourse.com.au (we recommend using Chrome as your internet browser) or you can request a free version to be embedded in your internal Learning Management System from cwgpcp@gmail.com.
After completing the course, staff will have an understanding of:
- What health literacy responsiveness is
- Their role in improving health literacy responsiveness
- How health literacy improvements can be implemented within your organisation.
The course is made up of the following 5 modules:
- Introduction: What is health literacy and why is it important?
- Leadership: How does my leadership role contribute to health literacy responsiveness?
- Communication: What influence does communication have on health literacy?
- Navigation of physical and virtual environments: What challenges do individuals face when navigating a service and how can my organisation support them?
- Partnering with consumers: How can my organisation work with consumers to improve organisational health literacy responsiveness?
The course is designed so staff can complete the modules most relevant to their role and are suitable for all staff, regardless of their existing knowledge of health literacy.
This broad approach to increase staff knowledge and skills has been designed to complement health literacy activities within your organisation.
If you would like to know more about the course, contact, GPPCP Integrated Care Coordinator, pcpic@grampianscommunityhealth.org.au