Contents

Patient experience

Guidelines and Resources
Patient Co-design Portals
Additional Resources and Further Reading
Selected Learning Opportunities

Health literacy

Guidelines and Resources
Selected aids and communication tools developed by NZ DHBs
Health Literacy Portals
Additional Resources and Further Reading
Selected Learning Opportunities

Patient Experience

 

Guidelines and Resources

New Zealand

Code of expectations for health entities’ engagement with consumers and whānau (HQSC, 2023)

The code of expectations for health entities’ engagement with consumers and whānau | Te tikanga mō te mahi tahi a ngā hinonga hauora ki ngā kiritaki me ngā whānau (the code) sets the expectations for how health entities must work with consumers, whānau and communities in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of health services.  This code is required by the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 and is underpinned by the health sector principles. All health entities must act in accordance with the code and are required to report annually on how the code has been applied.


From knowledge to action: A framework for building quality and safety capability in the New Zealand health system (HQSC, 2016)
A high-level framework to guide the development of quality and safety capability across all levels in the health and disability sector, including consumers/patients.

Engaging with consumers: a guide for district health boards (HQSC, 2015)
This resource is a practical guide to help New Zealand district health boards, and the health and disability services they fund, to engage better with consumers. It covers consumer engagement in the design and delivery of services, as well as the development of policy and governance procedures.


A guide to developing a framework for collecting information from consumers to improve the quality of health and disability services (HQSC, 2012)

 

This Guide and accompanying Toolkit are designed to assist health and disability service providers in developing and implementing a framework for capturing and using information about consumer experience to undertake service improvements. (…) In New Zealand consumer participation is also included in the Health and Disability Services Standards, which require that consumers and family/ whānau “are involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation at all levels of the service to ensure services are responsive to the needs of individuals.

see also Additional reading and useful links

Health Service Co-Design [WDHB]
A guide from Waitemata DHB providing a range of flexible tools for working effectively with patients in service improvement work.

 

Patient Experience Explorer (HQSC)

HQSC has launched the Experience Explorer, an improved tool for public reporting of results from the national patient experience programme. The explorer provides access to results from the Commission’s adult hospital inpatient experience and adult primary care patient experience surveys.  

Co-design in Aotearoa New Zealand: a snapshot of the literature (Knowledge Auickland; 2020)

Co-design refers to a philosophical approach and evolving set of methodologies for involving people in the design of the services, strategies, environments, policies, processes, – that impact them.

This review gathers together readily available local scholarship and literature about co-design in Aotearoa New Zealand up to September 2019. This document is aimed at the practitioners as much as academics and is more a snapshot than a formal academic literature review. Its aim is to:

create a resource to support groups and individuals working in, or commissioning, co-design
make visible for those practising or commissioning co-design in Aotearoa New Zealand the current landscape of formal scholarship and research in this space
provide a benchmark of current research applying to, or about, co-design, highlighting areas for future scholarship and collaboration. As more literature is identified it can be added to this initial review.
mprovement (HQSC, 2018)From PES to PDSA outlines how to use the patient experience reporting portal for quality improvement.  Written collaboratively with the Commission's quality improvement team, this document breaks down Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles into well-defined steps so you can streamline quality improvement activities within your primary health organisation or general practice.



International



Partnering with Consumers: A guide for consumers (Australian Commision on Satefy and Quality in Healthcare, 2023)

Developed by consumers for consumers, the Guide explains how to strengthen consumer partnerships at all levels of the health system to support person-centred care and drive positive change.  The Guide has been developed by consumers for consumers, with Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) engaged to undertake the co-design process. It explains how to build and strengthen consumer partnerships at all levels of the health system to support person-centred care and drive positive change.

 

 

 

Using social media as a tool to facilitate consumer engagement in service design and quality improvement: A guide for hospitals, service providers and consumers ( La Trobe University, 2022)

‘Using social media as a tool to facilitate consumer engagement in service design and quality improvement: A guide for hospitals, service providers and consumers’ is a guide designed to help hospitals, providers and consumers include social media-based methods into their suite of consumer engagement activities.

Researchers from the Centre for Health Communication and Participation at La Trobe University, along with an advisory committee of consumers and service providers, developed this guide. It draws from findings of a review of international literature, and new research exploring the use of social media as a consumer engagement tool in Australia.

The Patient Experience Library
"We have brought together the whole of the UK's qualitative literature on patient experience. We make as much stuff available free of charge as we can - through our weekly newsletter and through selected Insight reports and Knowledge maps.  We also make reports available to download for free, grouped by the month they were added to the Library" - Search the library

The Beryl Institute
The Beryl Institute is the global community of practice and premier thought leader on improving the patient experience in healthcare. *Full text access to resources is limited to Beryl Institute members.  Copies of all reports and papers can be requested from the Counties Manukau Health Library.

From PES to PDSA: A guide to using the patient experience survey portal for quality i

Engaging Patients in Patient Safety – a Canadian Guide (CPSI, 2017)
While the guide focuses primarily oThe Commission has developed a comprehensive training package for facilitators to use to help new health and disability consumer representatives to prepare for their role. It is designed to support consumers to participate confidently when sharing their views and experiences in decision-making forums across the sector.  The training package was updated in 2017 and will continue to be revised to reflect changes to key government documents (such as updated national strategies) and to incorporate new information.n patient safety, many engagement practices apply to other areas, including quality, research, and education. The guide is designed to support patient engagement in any healthcare sector.

Recommendations to OECD Ministers of Health from the High Level Reflection Group on the future of health statistics: Strengthening the international comparison of health system performance through patient-reported indicators (OECD, 2017)

Groundbreaking ministerial statement endorsed plans for a major programme of work on patient reported indicators of health system performance. Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) seem set to become the new currency for comparative performance assessment, but they may have an even more important role in clinical care.

The Eight Principles of Patient Centred Care
This webpage summarises findings from work by researchers from Harvard Medical School on behalf of Picker Institute and The Commonwealth Fund.  It draws on a literature review and wide range of focus groups to identify 8 Principles of Patient Centred Care that are needed to meet the Institute of Medicine's definition of patient-centred care.

 

NHS information and resources
Experience Based Design: Questionnaire.
Experience Based Design: Guide & Tools.
Experienced Based Design: Concepts and Case Studies.
Creating a revolution in patient and customer experience - Implementation Guidance The Friends and Family Test.
Feeling better? Improving patient experience in hospital.
NICE Quality standard for patient experience in adult NHS services

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Person-centred healthcare organisations
The Commission has developed a number of resources to help support healthcare organisations to achieve excellent person-centred care.  Including reports, fact sheets and case studies.

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Patient-centred care: improving quality and safety through partnerships with patients and the community

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
NSQHS Standard 2: Partnering with consumers: Tip Sheets and self assessment tool

The Kings Fund
Patient- and family-centred care toolkit
The patient- and family-centred care toolkit from The King's Fund is a simple, step-by-step method for recording and understanding patient and family experiences.

1000 Lives Improvement [NHS Wales]
Listening and Learning to Improve the Experience of Care
The white paper collects case studies from around Wales of how NHS teams and departments have gathered ‘patient feedback’ to inform changes and improvements in services.

Guide to patient and family engagement in hospital quality and safety (AHRQ)
An evidence-based resource to help hospitals work as partners with patients and families to improve quality and safety.

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS)
AHPS surveys ask patients to report on their experiences with a range of health care services at multiple levels of the delivery system. Several surveys ask about experiences with ambulatory care providers such as health plans, physicians' offices, and mental health plans, while others ask about experiences with care delivered in facilities such as hospitals, dialysis centers, and nursing homes.

The CAHPS Child Hospital Survey (Child CAHPS)
Assesses the experiences of pediatric patients (17 and younger) and their parents or guardians with inpatient care. It complements the Adult Hospital Survey, which asks adult inpatients about their experiences. Child HCAHPS covers most of the topics addressed by the Adult version of the Hospital Survey as well as topics that are particularly relevant to pediatric care.

Patient Engagement Resource Hub (Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement)
Hub resources include Canadian and international open source tools. Use them in patient and family engagement initiatives to improve health and healthcare.

How to Successfully Engage Patients and Families: 10 Insights from Providers and Leaders (Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. )

 

Healthcare providers and leaders shared these 10 insights, distilled from their experience and learning when working together with patients and families.

Patient and Public Engagement in Choosing Wisely. ( Choosing Wisely Canada. (2019). )

 

A new toolkit about engaging patients and the public in Choosing Wisely has been published. It includes brief case studies of patient and public engagement in Choosing Wisely campaigns, including in Australia. Twenty-eight cases from 12 countries describe ways campaigns have partnered, engaged, empowered and informed patients, consumers and the public.

 

Helping measure person-centred care: a review of evidence about commonly used approaches and tools used to measure person-centred care (Health Foundation)
This rapid review signposts to research about commonly used approaches and tools to help
measure person-centred care. It aims to showcase the many tools available for those working in
policy and practice.  A spreadsheet listing 160 of the most commonly researched measurement
tools accompanies this review.

Person and patient-centred care
An excellent collection of resources and articles curated by the team at Health Navigator.

Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families 
A compilation of evidence-based best practices for improving patient safety through patient, family, and caregiver engagement. This comprehensive guide provides primary care practices with four strategies that they can adopt to improve patient safety.

Patient/Family Advisory Councils in Ontario Hospitals – At Work, In Play (Change Foundation, 2014)
This report investigates the evolving function and best practices of Ontario’s hospital-based Patient/Family Advisory Councils (PFACs): one mechanism some hospitals are using – among other approaches – to advance patient/family engagement and patient-centred care.  This 3-part preliminary report aims to guide, connect and inspire by presenting thematic findings with examples of challenges and successes (part 1); quantitative data (part 2); and listings of PFAC initiatives, with contacts (part 3). The Foundation interviewed patients, family and staff from 29 hospitals about the functioning and impact of their councils.

Strategies for Patient, Family and Caregiver Engagement. Technical Brief [AHRQ Publication No. 20-EHC017]. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (2020).

 

This brief applies a framework to create a map of the currently available evidence on patient and family engagement strategies that have been used to help people manage chronic conditions.

Putting the consumer first: Creating a consumer-centred health system for a 21st century Australia: A health policy report. ( George Institute for Global Health & Consumers Health Forum of Australia. (2016). )

 

This report provides a series of recommendations for change and summarises key discussion points:

•            How do we empower consumers and communities to be informed and actively involved in their healthcare and the healthcare system?

•            How do we enable and support consumer-centred professional practice?

•            How do we enable services and providers to change?

 

•            How do we create the right policy, infrastructure and incentive platforms to drive change and support consumer-centred care?

Helping measure person-centred care. (The Health Foundation, 2014).

 

A review of evidence about commonly used approaches and tools used to help measure person-centred care.  This rapid review signposts to research about commonly used approaches and tools to help measure person-centred care. It aims to showcase the many tools available for those working in policy and practice.

 

 

 

Patient Co-design Portals, guides toolkits etcetera

 

 

Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA)

Experience Based Co-design Toolkit [ AHHA] Australian-developed toolkit developed by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) and the Consumers Health Forum (CHF) will help individual hospitals and healthcare services to provide better experiences of healthcare for both workers and patients. Sets out a process for co-design and includes case studies.

Flip the Clinic

Flip the Clinic is an open experiment to transform the patient-clinician experience. It is where patients and health practitioners improve medical care, together. Find new ideas, join the collaboration, and follow the community’s progress

 

Health Service Co-Design [WDHB] A guide from Waitemata DHB providing a range of flexible tools for working effectively with patients in service improvement work.

Health Quality & Safety Commission Co-Design in Partners in Care [HQSC] Partners in Care is a six- to eight-month programme brought to you by the Health Quality & Safety Commission with a focus on consumer engagement, using the National Health Service Institute’s Experience-Based Design programme

Co-design in health: free e-learning courses available | He hoahoa-tahi: He kaupapa ako-i utu kore | Health Quality & Safety Commission (hqsc.govt.nz)

HQSC have developed a suite of free e-learning courses for co-design that are available to all health care professionals through Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health’s Learn Online platform. Co-design is a tool that brings together consumers, whānau and communities to ensure that multiple perspectives are reflected in the design, delivery and evaluation of services.

Courses:

• Co-design in health: an introduction 
• Co-design in health: Supporting consumers, whānau and communities to contribute to co-design
• Engaging Māori consumers in co-design
• Engaging Pacific consumers in co-design
• Co-design in health: How you can be involved – a guide for consumers, whānau and communities

These courses are open to anyone (first-time Learn Online users will need to create a login). Learners can work through these courses at their own pace.

Patient Engagement Resource Hub (Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement) Hub resources include Canadian and international open source tools. Use them in patient and family engagement initiatives to improve health and healthcare.

Point of Care Foundation: EBCD: Experience-based co-design toolkit [UK] This toolkit gives a step-by-step guide to improving patient experience of health care using a technique called experience-based co-design (EBCD).The toolkit includes short videos from staff and patients involved in experience-based co-design (EBCD) projects to help bring to life the successes and intense rewards of running this type of improvement project.

See also Patient- and family-centred care toolkit The patient- and family-centred care toolkit from The King's Fund is a simple, step-by-step method for recording and understanding patient and family experiences.

The Beryl Institute

The Beryl Institute is the global community of practice and premier thought leader on improving the patient experience in healthcare. *Full text access to resources is limited to Beryl Institute members.

 

 

Additional Resources and Further Reading

Consumers’ and health providers’ views and perceptions of partnering to improve health services design, delivery and evaluation: a co‐produced qualitative evidence synthesis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2023)

 

Key messages

•            Power imbalances between health providers and consumers can limit consumer participation in health service planning, delivery and evaluation.

•            Power imbalances in the partnership may happen because of the ways consumers are recruited, how meetings are run, and how decisions are made.

•            To have successful partnerships with consumers, health providers need to address these power imbalances.

•            Some consumers and health providers believed that partnerships improved the culture and environment of the health service, as well as how health services were planned and developed.

Consumers’ and health providers’ views and perceptions of partnering to improve health services design, delivery and evaluation: a co‐produced qualitative evidence synthesis / Merner B, Schonfeld L, Virgona A, Lowe D, Walsh L, Wardrope C, et al.  Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2023 (3).

This qualitative evidence synthesis examined the partnering with consumers, particularly on ‘formal group partnerships where health providers and consumers share decision‐making about planning, delivering and/or evaluating health services’. The work sought to:

1.           ‘To synthesise the views and experiences of consumers and health providers of formal partnership approaches that aimed to improve planning, delivery or evaluation of health services.

2.           To identify best practice principles for formal partnership approaches in health services by understanding consumers' and health providers' views and experiences.’

Focussing on 33 studies, the analysis identified 19 findings that were then grouped into 5 categories:

•            Contextual factors influencing partnerships

•            Consumer recruitment

•            Partnership dynamics and processes

•            Perceived impacts on partnership participants

•            Perceived impacts on health service planning, delivery and evaluation.

The authors emphasise the importance of power imbalances and the need to be aware of these and to address them. The key messages in the plain language summary stress these in noting:

•            ‘Power imbalances between health providers and consumers can limit consumer participation in health service planning, delivery and evaluation.

•            Power imbalances in the partnership may happen because of the ways consumers are recruited, how meetings are run, and how decisions are made.

•            To have successful partnerships with consumers, health providers need to address these power imbalances.

 

•            Some consumers and health providers believed that partnerships improved the culture and environment of the health service, as well as how health services were planned and developed.’

Consensus on how to optimise patient/family engagement in hospital planning and improvement: a Delphi survey. (BMJ open, 2022)

 

Patient and family engagement (PE) in health service planning and improvement is widely advocated, yet little prior research offered guidance on how to optimise PE, particularly in hospitals. This study aimed to engage stakeholders in generating evidence-informed consensus on recommendations to optimise PE.

 

Understanding integration: how to listen to and learn from people and communities | TheKingsFund  (2021)
The move towards integrated care has been the defining policy in health and care over the past decade and will continue to gather pace with the development of integrated care systems (ICSs). The aim of integrated care is to improve people’s outcomes and experiences of care by bringing services together around people and communities.

This means addressing the fragmentation of services and lack of co-ordination that people often experience by providing person-centred, joined-up care. One key question for ICSs and the partners working in them is how they will know whether they are meeting the needs of the people they serve. Those best placed to understand what they need, what is working and what could be improved are the people and communities using services. Their lived experience is a powerful tool to improve existing services and identify new and better ways to meet people’s needs. Currently, people’s experiences of health and care services are usually collected and understood at the level of individual providers (Wellings 2019). This means we know about people’s experiences of individual services, such as general practice, hospitals or social care, but not about whether these services are working well together to meet people’s needs. 

Over the past year, Picker and The King’s Fund have been working with NHS England and NHS Improvement on how ICSs can listen to and learn from people and communities. We have produced a practical guide for partners working in these systems, with ideas on how they might go about this. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. It will require a range of different methods and approaches to understand, monitor and measure how well people’s needs are being met. Perhaps most importantly, it will require partners to listen and learn together. As important as the methods adopted, will be the importance placed on this area of work and we have put together a set of principles for systems to adopt to ensure that the voices of people and communities are at the heart of partnership working. 

The guide, created by The King’s Fund and Picker on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement, has been developed with input from ICSs, patient leaders, and engagement and experience experts. We hope it will prove useful to systems and will encourage and help them as they work to co-ordinate services around what matters to people and communities.

NHS information and resources Experience Based Design: Questionnaire.Experience Based Design: Guide & Tools. Experienced Based Design: Concepts and Case Studies. Creating a revolution in patient and customer experience - Implementation Guidance The Friends and Family Test. Feeling better? Improving patient experience in hospital.NICE Quality standard for patient experience in adult NHS services

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Patient-centred care: improving quality and safety through partnerships with patients and the community

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care NSQHS Standard 2: Partnering with consumers: Tip Sheets and self assessment tool

 The KingsFund Patients as partners: Building collaborative relationships among professionals, patients, carers and communities

 More collaborative relationships among health and care professionals, patients, service users, carers and communities are essential for the future of the NHS, but what helps to build effective relationships? This guide stems from an evolving body of the Fund's work focused on exploring and supporting shared leadership. This work is reinforced by a growing consensus that health services, agencies, patients and communities need to work together more – and differently.

1000 Lives Improvement [NHS Wales]

Listening and Learning to Improve the Experience of Care

The white paper collects case studies from around Wales of how NHS teams and departments have gathered ‘patient feedback’ to inform changes and improvements in services.

Guide to patient and family engagement in hospital quality and safety (AHRQ) An evidence-based resource to help hospitals work as partners with patients and families to improve quality and safety.

Health Quality & Safety Commission Co-Design in Partners in Care [HQSC[ Partners in Care is a six- to eight-month programme brought to you by the Health Quality & Safety Commission with a focus on consumer engagement, using the National Health Service Institute’s Experience-Based Design programme

Co-design programme evaluation and case studies 2015–16 [NZ HQSC] The 2015–16 co-design programme was delivered in two DHBs over an eight-month period from October 2015 to May 2016. The evaluation report, interviews and case studies from the programme are now available. The report has identified a number of learnings which offer potential future opportunities to increase the sustainability of co-design approaches.

Putting the consumer first: Creating a consumer-centred health system for a 21st century Australia. A health policy report, April 2016 (The George Institute; 2016)

Co-design: shared perspectives on authentic co-design: putting consumers and carers at the center of mental health reform (Co-design Initiative, 2016)

Reexamining “Defining Patient Experience”: The human experience in healthcare (Patient Experience Journal; 2021)

 

Journals

Patient Experience Journal
Patient Experience Journal (PXJ) is an international, multidisciplinary, and multi-method, open-access, peer-reviewed journal engaging research, proven practices and a range of perspectives, inclusive of patients and families, focused on understanding and improving patient experience. PXJ is designed to share ideas and reinforce key concepts that impact the delivery of service, safety and quality and their influence on the experience of patients, residents and families across healthcare settings.

Journal of Participatory Medicine
The Journal of Participatory Medicine is a peer-reviewed, open access journal with the mission to advance the understanding and practice of participatory medicine among health care professionals and patients. It is published by the Society for Participatory Medicine.

 

Selected Learning Opportunities

 

 

Health Literacy

 

Guidelines and Resources

 

Improving Health Literacy: New Zealand Medical Association Policy Briefing (2017) [NZMA]
The New Zealand Medical Association has published a policy briefing on Improving Health Literacy, that seeks to promote a shared understanding of what health literacy means, why it is important, and what can be done to improve it.

Health literacy review: a guide (2015) [NZ MoH]
Developped to take organisations through the review process and show you how to develop a Health Literacy Action Plan
see also 'A framework for health literacy: a health system response'

Rauemi Atawhai – A guide to developing health education resources in New Zealand (2012) [NZ MoH]
“A guide to developing health education resources in New Zealand has been developed to help the Ministry of Health and its contractors produce effective and appropriate health education resources that meet the needs of the intended audience, are easy to understand, and support improved health literacy.”

Translation is not enough: cultural adaptation of health communication materials ([ECDC: 2016]
This report describes the tools we need to effectively use print resources to communicate across cultures. This guide introduces an innovative five-step, stakeholder- based approach to adapting health communication materials. It describes how countries can take any health communication material, produced in English or other languages) and create adapted products which reflect national or local realities, needs and assets without losing the scientific correctness, core concepts and messages of the original version.

More resources for developing information that is easy to understand and use:
NSW Clinical Excellence Commission – Health Literacy Guide
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – Health literacy universal precautions toolkit
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool
Canadian Public Health Association – Easy does it! Plain language and clear verbal communication training manual
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Simply put: A guide for creating easy-to-understand materials

Three steps to better health literacy: a guide for health professionals (2014)

Engaging with consumers: a guide for district health boards (HQSC: 2015)
This resource is a practical guide to help New Zealand district health boards, and the health and disability services they fund, to engage better with consumers. It covers consumer engagement in the design and delivery of services, as well as the development of policy and governance procedures.

Health service co-design toolkit [Waitemata DHB]

Toolkit for Staff working in Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Health Environments [Waitemata DHB]

Cross Cultural Resource for Health Practitioners working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) clients [e-toolkit]

Self management support toolkit [NZ Health Navigator]

Health Literate Care Model: A Universal Precautions Approach
A universal precautions approach means treating all patients as if they are at risk of not understanding health information. When health care providers use this approach, they acknowledge that:
Professionals can’t accurately identify who understands and who doesn’t.
Even individuals with proficient health literacy skills may not attribute the same meaning to health terms and instructions as professionals do. These inviduals can sometimes have trouble understanding health information – especially when they are sick, frightened, or in pain.

Health literacy can be situational. For example, it may depend on the complexity of the information and the patient’s relevant experiences and stress level.Everyone benefits from clear, actionable information.By adopting a universal precautions approach, health care providers communicate with all patients in clear and actionable ways.

Making it easier: a health literacy action plan for Scotland (2017) [NHS Scotland]

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

see

HEALTH LITERACY: Taking action to improve safety and quality
The aims of the paper are to raise awareness of the importance of health literacy, and to start discussions about how it can be addressed systematically and who can be involved in this process.  The paper provides a broad overview of health literacy in Australia and identifies a number of areas and actions required to address health literacy in a coordinated way.

Health literacy: a summary for clinicians (ACSQHC, 2017)

see also

Tip Sheet 8: Health literacy and the NSQHS Standards
This fact sheet focusses on health literacy and how your organisation can strategically address health literacy and meet the requirements of the National Safety and Quality (NSQHS) Standards.|

The Universal Patient Language
The Universal Patient Language (UPL) is a set of resources that helps you communicate with patients about complex topics. We are constantly evolving the UPL as we learn new things.  The UPL was designed to help you:
Translate complex scientific data into digestible information;
Make your communications relatable and meaningful to patients;
Effectively use icons, visuals, and colors;
Enable patient learning through digital media

Health Literacy Toolkit (NHS, UK. 2017)
Includes practical tools, techniques and case studies.

 

Videos

Why Capital and Coast DHB carried our a health literacy review (2015)
Capital & Coast DHB reviewed a service issue – non-attendance at children’s outpatient clinics. This was an issue they were already investigating and the review contributed a health literacy perspective.

Why Counties Manukau DHB carried our a health literacy review (2015)
Counties Manukau Health reviewed oral health services and were concerned about life-long consumer engagement with services.

Why Northland DHB and Te Tai Tokerau PHO did a health literacy review (2105)
Northland DHB worked with Te Tai Tokerau Primary Healthcare Organisation to review diabetes services in primary care. The quality of diabetes care is of great importance in the North because of the growing numbers of consumers with diabetes.

More videos from the Ministry of Health about conducting health literacy reviews

 

Selected aids and communication tools developed by the New Zealand DHBs

 

AI2DET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Identify, Duration, Enquire and Effective Communication, Thank you ) [Counties Manukau Health]

A communication tool CM Health has adapted to improve face-to-face engagement experiences for patients and whānau, and promote values-based communication

 

Communication cards [ADHB]

Communication cards contain a set of icons that patients can use if they are having difficulty communicating their immediate needs, wants or concerns. 

The cards have been translated into 12 languages: Arabic ; Burmese ; Chinese (simplified) ; Chinese (traditional) ; English ; French ; Hindi ; Korean ; Māori ; Russian ; Samoan ; Tongan ; Vietnamese

iTui [WDHB / IBMNZ]

“iTui” – developed in partnership with IBM – is a free drawing based iPad app that enables doctors to have higher quality interactions and engagement with kids.The tool provides a common platform to describe and discuss thoughts, feelings and experiences, without being limited by drawing ability.
 

Patient and Whaanau Learning Centre Virtual Library [Counties Manukau Health]

The Patient and Whaanau Learning Centre provides access to valid health resources for patients and whaanau. The virtual library is curated by the Counties Manukau Health Library.

Waikids Safety in Hospital video [Waikato DHB]

No matter your age, gender or if you’re a dinosaur called Safetysaurus, coming to hospital can be quite scary, especially if you’re a kid.

So the team at Waikids' Waikato Hospital rallied together to make a fun and informative video for unwell kids and their whanāu when they need to stay in hospital, highlighting the safety tips they need to know.

Waitemata DHB Patient Safety Video [WDHB]

Waitemata DHB has taken a leaf out of Air New Zealand's book, with the launch of a new safety video. Hospital safety is crucial to help reduce falls, infections and medicine mishaps, and the DHB has come up with an out-of-this-world way to get the message through. The in-hospital safety video stars an alien called Ghoumash, who crashes to Earth and winds up at North Shore Hospital, where a friendly nurse and doctor talk him through the standard safety procedures.

 

Health Literacy portals

Health Literacy NZ: Workbase

Ministry of Health

Health Navigator

Health Quality and Safety Commission

see also

The Health Literacy Place [NHS Scotland]

Health Literacy resources published by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care [Aus.]

 

Additional Resources and Further Reading

 

International Handbook of Health Literacy : Research, practice and policy across the lifespan (Policy Press, 2019)
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Health literacy addresses a range of social dimensions of health, including knowledge, navigation and communication, as well as individual and organizational skills for accessing, understanding, evaluating and using information. Particularly over the past decade, health literacy has globally become a major public health concern as an asset for promoting health, wellbeing and sustainable development.

Building the Case for Health Literacy: Proceedings of a Workshop (National Academy of Medicine:2018)

Health literacy reviews [MoH]

Health literacy publications [MoH]

Literature review of health literacy education, training tools, and resources for health providers. (Workbase: 2013)

Community-based health literacy interventions: proceedings of a workshop. (Book. National Academy of Medicine. 2018)

Health literacy: a necessary element for achieving health equity [Discussion paper. National Academy of Medicine] (2015)

How can communities and organisations improve their health literacy?  (Public Health Research & Practice, 2018)

Internet Health Information Seeking and the Patient-Physician Relationship: A Systematic Review (2017)

Health promotion competencies for Aotearoa New Zealand (2012)

Kōrero Marama: Health Literacy and Maaori: Results from the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey – Provides an overview of health literacy amongst Maaori.

Ethnic Disparities in CPAP Adherence in New Zealand- Effects of Socioeconomic Status, Health Literacy and Self Efficacy

Maaori Health Literacy Research: Gestational diabetes mellitus (2014)

He Māramatanga Huangō: asthma health literacy for Maaori children in New Zealand (2015)

Case Study 4: The Samoan Self-management Education Programme for People with Long-term Health Conditions (Word, 51 KB)

Refugee healthcare: a handbook for health professionals (2012)

Car J, Lang B, Colledge A, Ung C, Majeed A. Interventions for enhancing consumers' online health literacy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011(6):CD007092.

Nicola Diviani et al. Low Health Literacy and Evaluation of Online Health Information: A Systematic Review of the Literature. J Med Internet Res 2015;17(5):e112)

Health literacy interventions and outcomes: an updated systematic review (2011)

see also

Health literacy resources curated by HQSC to support Engaging with consumers: a guide for district health boards.
Maaori resources curated by by HQSC to support Engaging with consumers: a guide for district health boards.

Health Information Resources for Patients and the Community: a clearinghouse curated by the Counties Manukau Health Library

 

Selected Learning Opportunities

 

Health Literacy eModules on Ko Awatea LEARN

Go to

My learning
/ ► Hawkes Bay DHB
/ ► Primary Care
/ ► HLPHO

Health literacy is the capacity to find, interpret and use information and health services to make effective decisions for health and wellbeing (Ministry of Health).  This course is made up of 6 eModules:

What is Health Literacy?
Organisational Health Literacy
Communication
Tools to Improve Health Literacy
Strategies to Improve Communication and Engagement with Māori
Effective engagement with Pacific patients and whānau

 

Selected MOOCs of interest (international):

Health literacy: hidden barriers and practical strategies [US] [Slide Presentation]
*This PowerPoint presentation includes 30 slides, with speaker's notes, that can be delivered in 30-45 minutes to a group or as a self-study program. It can also be downloaded and edited.

Health literacy for public health professionals [US]

Effective Communication Tools for Healthcare Professionals: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency [US]

 

 last updated 12 February 2024

• Patient experience: a selective bibliography. Compiled by the Counties Manukau Health Library.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf.pdf (PDF, 169 KB)