This guide was created as a companion to the information and step-by-step guidance provided in the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. It presents concrete implementation advice based on the implementation experiences of twelve diverse primary care practices that participated in the Demonstration of Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Contract HHSA290200710008, TO#10).
Who is this guide for?
This guide was created for use by people assisting primary care practices to implement the AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. This includes practice facilitators and health literacy and QI team leaders and members.
How to use this guide?
This guide is a supplement to, not a substitute for, the Toolkit. Review both documents side-by-side prior to starting health literacy-related quality improvement (QI) work. You can draw on the practical ideas presented in this guide when developing your tool implementation plan, when experiencing challenges, or when you're feeling stuck.
Organization of the guide
This guide is organized in six sections. The first section, General Toolkit Guidance, contains advice that is relevant no matter which tools your practice chooses to implement. In Section 2, Path to Improvement, we address Tools 1 through 3, which are aimed at helping practices develop the foundation needed to begin their QI efforts. As such, these tools should be fully implemented before starting work on other tools.
The next four sections of the guide correspond to the four domains identified in the Toolkit as key focus areas for promoting health literacy in your practice: Spoken Communication, Written Communication, Self-Management and Empowerment, and Supportive Systems. Each of these sections contain real-life examples, strategies, shortcuts, and tips that demonstration practices used to implement the rest of the tools from the Toolkit successfully.
