Testing patients for levels of health literacy holds potential for improving physician-patient communication, according to a study published in Surgery.
The study authors administered a two-minute health literacy assessment to more than 96 percent of patients at a breast surgery clinic over two years. Only 19 percent of patients were health literate, according to the study metric.
Administration of the survey was highly successful and was not correlated with a decrease in patient satisfaction, according to the article.
Researchers suggested testing patients for health literacy may assist physicians in communication efforts with patients.
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