Health literacy, as defined by Ratzan and Parker2 and adopted by Healthy People 20102,3 and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in their 2004 report Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion4 is “the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions.” The concept of health literacy represents a constellation of skills necessary to function effectively in the health care environment and act appropriately on health care information. These skills include print literacy (the ability to read and understand text and locate and interpret information in documents),.
