Nurses’ assessment of health literacy requirements for adult inpatients: An integrative review

Issue Addressed: This paper reviews current research which examines nurses' assessment of patient's health literacy in the acute hospital setting. Research highlights, that patients with low health literacy have more frequent hospitalisations and are more likely to be re-admitted. Within the healthcare team, nurses are primarily responsible for teaching patients and deciphering health communication, to enhance understanding. Within the acute care setting, there remains a disparity in patient understanding of information, despite nurse-led education. The health literacy assessment and tailoring of information by nurses, is becoming more important with shorter stays, plus limited family visits and the wearing of masks with COVID-19 related changes. Methods: An integrative review across four nursing databases, from 2010 and June 2022 was conducted. The integrative framework included problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis with thematic analysis, and results presentation. Results: Nine studies were included. Common themes were nurses' overestimation of patients' health literacy, the use of universal precautions, and adapting communication techniques to improve education moments. Conclusion: The findings of this review indicate a tendency among nurses to overestimate their patients' health literacy levels, which can result in ineffective health education and inadequate discharge planning. So What: Nurses decipher health communication for their patients. Designing tailored patient communication and education could potentially be a cost saving measure for hospitals by reducing length of stay and reducing readmissions. Health literacy training should be incorporated into nursing practice.