title: Health literacy of patients admitted for elective surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with limited health literacy have poorer surgical outcomes. However, current studies assessing the prevalence of limited health literacy in patients expecting surgery are small scale. We aimed to provide insight into the health literacy level of patients undergoing planned surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients aged ≥18 years visiting the preoperative screening department were approached in the waiting area and invited to participate in a brief interview including the Functional Communicative Critical Health Literacy (FCCHL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 225 patients (84.9% response) were studied. Based on the FCCHL, 37.3% of the patients were classified as having limited health literacy. The mean score in the critical domain (2.7 ± 0.9) was lower than scores in the functional (3.3 ± 0.6) and communicative (3.3 ± 0.6) domains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than one third of the patients admitted to the hospital for surgery had limited health literacy. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the different health literacy levels and tailor their information provision strategies accordingly.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Koster
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Philbert
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Department of Clinical Pharmacy, St. Antonius Hospital Nieuwegein, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E M W
authors.initials: EMW
authors.lastname: van de Garde
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bouvy
keywords: Communicative; Critical; FCCHL; Functional; Health literacy; Hospital; Surgery