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News Release
UCSF Center for Consumer Self Care
March 30, 2004
Pfizer's Clear Health Initiative program announced support for a visiting lectureship and project that will reassess the pharmacy curriculum at the University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy as it relates to health literacy concerns in the practice setting.
The award, given to the Center for Consumer Self Care ithe School's Department of Clinical Pharmacy will serve as a staging platform for refinement of the UCSF School of Pharmacy curriculum to enhance professional skills in meeting health literacy needs of patients and consumers in diverse community settings. The award supports project development and a visiting lectureship for Dr. Rima Rudd, a nationally regarded expert in health literacy.
Dr. Rima Rudd is Senior Lecturer on Society, Human Development, and Health (Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA)
"Dr. Rudd is an established researcher and expert in health literacy, and fully grasps the linkage of theory and health literacy models," commented Dr. Bill Soller, Executive Director for the UCSF Center for Consumer Self Care. " Because of her emphasis on community and school settings, we anticipate Dr. Rudd will add an important dimension to the pharmacy school curriculum on health literacy aimed at optimizing the community and clinical pharmacists' interactions with patients in diverse settings." Dr. Rudd has had experience with pharmacy curricula in this area, having been an Assistant Professor teaching public health/communication at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in the late 1980s.
The specific objectives of the visiting lectureship are to build awareness, catalyze curriculum change, result in one or more peer reviewed publications as a means to share the knowledge gained with other educators. The UCSF School of Pharmacy has an established curriculum in pharmaceutical counseling using the Pfizer Pharmacist Patient Consultation Program (PPCP), which covers low health literacy as one of many issues needing to be addressed in an interactive approach to patient consultation. The School has also initiated development of specific faculty expertise in health literacy and readability/comprehension of health information. With the Pfizer award, the school expects to more fully expand health literacy and effective health communication into the core and elective pharmacy curriculum.
In the United States, there is a significant gap between the reading abilities of the adult population and the reading levels of most written health care materials. The following statistics suggest the extent of the health literacy problem in the U.S.:
The issue of health literacy is broader than literacy. Americans of all reading levels experience difficulties comprehending health information and navigating the complex health care system, and it is the millions of Americans with marginal reading skills who are most affected to read and understand health information and use it effectively.
For more information on health literacy, visit http://www.pfizerhealthliteracy.com
Prepared by the Center for Consumer Self Care
Executive Director: R. William Soller, Ph.D.
UCSF School of Pharmacy
cpselfcare@pharmacy.ucsf.edu