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Health information and libraries journal
Jun, 2022;39 (2): 142-154.

Collaborative updating of an organizational health literacy tool confirms medical librarians' leadership roles.

Kelsey Leonard Grabeel, R Eric Heidel, Sandy Oelschlegel, Rima Rudd
Author Information
  1. Kelsey Leonard Grabeel: Health Information Center, Preston Medical Library, University of Tennessee Medical Center, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. ORCID
  2. R Eric Heidel: Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
  3. Sandy Oelschlegel: Health Information Center, Preston Medical Library, University of Tennessee Medical Center, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
  4. Rima Rudd: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
PMID: 34272926 DOI: 10.1111/hir.12390

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A librarian led task force at the University of Tennessee Medical Center sought to evaluate their medical centre's health literacy attributes utilizing a widely used tool. This research ultimately led to the update of the tool.
OBJECTIVES: To discuss the evaluation of health literacy attributes of health care organizations and detail the process of updating the Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers (HLEHHC) tool.
METHODS: Subsequent to utilizing the HLEHHC, the task force was invited to assist in updating the tool. A collaborative was formed between the original author and task force. The collaborative performed an extensive literature review focused on emerging health literacy issues, reviewed each section and formulated changes.
RESULTS: The collaborative update process yielded an improved instrument for assessing the extent to which a health care organization accommodates low health literacy patients.
DISCUSSION: Through editing, creating new questions and rearranging the format, the HLEHHC was improved and updated.
CONCLUSION: The assessment conducted by the health literacy task force is helping shape changes in the organization. Medical librarians acted in leadership roles in the collaborative process of developing the new institutional assessment tool for health literacy (HLE2).

Keywords

collaboration evaluation health literacy hospitals leadership libraries medical teaching

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MeSH Term

Health Literacy
Hospitals
Humans
Leadership
Librarians
Libraries, Medical
Journal Article
Article has an altmetric score of 3

Word Cloud

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