Decoding Medical Gobbleddygook – Health Literacy Puts Patients First
This book is the collaborative project of Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and our own Juliette Siegfried, Director of ServingMed.com. Dr. Malpani is a respected infertility doctor from Mumbai, India who has championed health literacy in his practice and through his website and blog for years. Juliette Siegfried is a health educator and medical writer who has been developing health communications projects for over 20 years, and she began her career working with low literacy patients through her work at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA.
The book is freely available here as an ebook: Health Literacy. Decoding Medical Gobbledygook explains the massive and growing problem of health literacy, why health literacy matters to everyone regardless of educational level, and offers practical strategies for improving individual and population-based health literacy both inside and outside of the healthcare environment.
Table of Contents
About The Authors
Preface
Chapter 1. What is Health Literacy? An Overview of a Complex Problem
Chapter 2. Why is Health Literacy Important? Taming the Elephant in the Room
Chapter 3. Health Literacy: Doctors and Patients Working Together
Chapter 4. Health Literacy: A Powerful Shield Against Medical Errors
Chapter 5. Does My Patient Have Low Health Literacy? (Hint: You Can’t Tell by Looking!)
Chapter 6. Creating Effective Partnerships With Patients: Delivering on the Promise
Chapter 7. Improving Doctor-Patient Communication: Bridging the Gap
Chapter 8. Translating English to Hindi: Experts Needed
Chapter 9. Accurate, Accessible, and Actionable Health Materials: Easy-reading Isn’t Enough!
Chapter 10. Health Literacy Outside the Doctor’s Clinic: It Takes a Village
Chapter 11. Patient Support Groups: Building a Safety Net
Chapter 12. Improving Your Own Health Literacy: One Step At A Time
Chapter 13. Health Literacy in India: A Unique Challenge
Chapter 14. Lessons in Health Literacy: What India and the US Can Learn From Each Other
Chapter 15. Employing Multimedia and Mobile Technologies: Making Modern-day Tools Work for You and Your Patients
Chapter 16. Effective Online Information for Low-Literate Patients: Going Beyond the Written Word
Chapter 17. Creating Health Literate Hospitals: From Admission to Discharge
Chapter 18. Contemporary Issues in Health Literacy: Action Needed NOW
Chapter 19. Promoting Health Literacy: Spread the Word!
Chapter 20. What Marketing Strategies Work to Promote Health Literacy?
Chapter 21. Why Doctors Need to be Politically Engaged.and Engaging
Chapter 22. Future Perfect
Chapter 23. Final Thoughts From Dr. Malpani
