Poor health literacy as a barrier to patient care.

Only 12% of adults have proficient health literacy, according to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. In other words, nearly 9 out of 10 adults may lack the skills needed to manage their health and prevent disease. The elderly patient is at especially high risk for having low health literacy. To provide optimal care for patients, pharmacists and other health care practitioners must understand the problems of health literacy and incorporate strategies and tools to improve the effectiveness of their communication with patients.