title: A Nurse Leadership Project to Improve Health Literacy on a Maternal-Infant Unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe how participation in the Sigma Theta Tau International Maternal-Child Health Nurse Leadership Academy positioned the authors to lead an interdisciplinary team through implementation and evaluation of a change project related to patient education based upon national health literacy standards. The project goal was to improve patient satisfaction with nurse communication and preparation for hospital discharge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quality improvement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mother/-baby unit of an academic medical center serving a high percentage of patients of a minority population and underserved clients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The five- step intervention included (a) review of current health literacy standards, (b) formation of an infrastructure for development and evaluation of existing patient education materials, (c) assessment of patient education materials currently in use, (d) assessment of literacy level and learning styles of new mothers, and (e) provision of continuing education to increase knowledge of nurses as patient teachers and of health literacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mean scores of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) in the domains of patient satisfaction with nurse communication and discharge information were used to measure patient satisfaction with health communication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient satisfaction with nurse communication increased from 75.9% to 84.6%. Satisfaction with discharge information increased from 84.6% to 98.6%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The leadership academy successfully positioned the authors to guide an interdisciplinary team through development of a process to meet the education and communication needs of patients and improve their health literacy. As a result, a positive effect was noted on patient satisfaction with health communication.
authors: Reetta
authors: R
authors: Stikes
authors: Katheryn
authors: K
authors: Arterberry
authors: M Cynthia
authors: MC
authors: Logsdon
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000379:methods*; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007857:Leadership; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D016389:Maternal-Child Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Teach Back; health communication; health literacy; maternal-child health; nursing leadership; patient education; quality improvement