Optimize patient health by treating literacy and language barriers

More than 90 million Americans have limited literacy skills. Almost two million US residents cannot speak English, and millions more speak it poorly. The stigma of illiteracy or the inability to speak a country's predominant language keep patients from disclosing their limitations. Recognizing these facts is an important first step in improving health education for this vulnerable population. By adapting teaching techniques to patients' special needs, nurses can ensure that patients understand their health problems and plan of care. Statistics dramatically demonstrate the high cost of neglecting these needs. Patients who do not understand their plan of care do not comply with instructions and, therefore, suffer unnecessary complications. Health care providers who can communicate with their patients through multilingual, low literacy patient education materials and with the use of qualified interpreters markedly improve the quality of care for their patients and the resulting outcomes.