Author: Cheryl Miller, DrOT, OTR/L, National Director of Therapy Operations for HealthSouth
Earn .2 CEU (2.5 NBCOT PDUs/2Contact Hours)
Abstract
This clinically relevant interactive course is designed for occupational therapy practitioners who desire effective, meaningful, collaborative, and professional interactions with clients and caregivers in any practice setting.
Effective communication is required to help clients achieve desired outcomes and goals. We typically consider our communication skills to be effective but when closely examined, we may discover that clients misunderstand information we provide, and are unaware of basic information about a diagnosis or injury. For example, a client may not apply a splint correctly or adhere to the wearing schedule; he may not complete the home exercise programs or follow safety recommendations.
With the increasing diversity of clients, we may observe that our communication skills are less effective with people from backgrounds different from our own. The use of therapy jargon in our communication and educational materials limits our ability to provide effective client-centered care to all clients.
Approaching health literacy as presented in this course helps us to ensure that clients understand the services we provide and have the skills needed to access, understand, and use the health information provided as part of occupational therapy services.
This introductory course should take approximately 2 hours to complete. Additional references and resources are available on an optional basis to promote additional learning and are not considered in the credit awarded for the course. Interactive questions are provided to reinforce course content. Exam questions to assess course learning are embedded in the course. Once you complete the course and obtain a passing score, your certificate is available for download.
• Mobile Access – the course is easily viewed on a tablet making your learning portable and providing easy access to resources.
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the responsibility of occupational therapy practitioners to consider the impact of health literacy on effective communication and provision of education to clients and caregivers across the lifespan in a variety of settings.
2. Define health literacy.
3. Recognize health literacy concepts including historical views and relevant statistics.
4. Select appropriate assessment tools to evaluate health literacy levels.
5. Explain the impact of health literacy with consideration of health literacy occupations and effective client-centered interventions.
6. Recognize environmental factors that influence health literacy.
7. Review relevant health literacy evidence-based resources.
Author Bio
Cheryl Miller-Scott, DrOT, OTR/L is the National Director of Therapy Operations for HealthSouth. She has been employed at HealthSouth since 1986 and provided occupational therapy services to adults and children with a multitude of orthopedic and neurological diagnosis. Dr. Miller-Scott received her doctorate degree from Nova Southeastern University in 2014 where she engaged in advanced studies of health literacy and the impact of health literacy limitations on occupational therapy clients. Through involvement with the American Occupational Therapy Association, numerous presentations, and training and program development at HealthSouth, Dr. Miller-Scott has passionately promoted the need for occupational therapy practitioners to develop awareness and skills related to the health literacy of clients.
Learning Level
Introductory
Target Audience
Occupational Therapy Practitioners, Educators, Occupational Therapy Students
AOTA Classification Codes for Continuing Education Activities
Category 2: Occupational Therapy Process: Evaluation and Intervention
Continuing Education Credit
A certificate of completion for .2 AOTA CEU (2.5 NBCOT PDUs/2.0 contact hours) will be awarded upon successful completion of this course.
Exam
Throughout the course you will encounter exam questions. A passing grade for the exam is 75% or higher. You will be provided with two attempts to answer each question.