Thanks for sending on this article. I am going to post it on my blog for
sure http://library.med.utah.edu/blogs/BHIC/ I am a person who gets
totally disoriented in buildings and have found that signs rarely help.
The larger the hospital the more confusing the navigation for me. I
think the process the researchers followed in this article was
excellent. Every hospital should do this and determine where they need
better signs.
siobhan

-----Original Message-----
From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:16 PM
To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 491] Wed. Question: Navigating Healthcare

Hi Everyone,

I want to pass on an article from the latest issue of Focus on Basics
which may interest you, and then ask a question about it.

Navigating Helathcare
by Jennie Anderson and Rima Rudd
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1156

This looks at the findings of teams of adult literacy teachers and
students, along with graduate students and others who tried to look for
certain places in hospitals and recorded the students responses to the
signs and maps leading them. Researchers also looked at the reading
level of signs and instructions along the way. Read about this unique
approach to studying the navigation of a system with significant
literacy-related barriers, and about the implications for adult
educators and medical professionals as they work to make healthcare more
accessible to all.

Question: Walk through your hospital or clinic and look at it from the
eyes of someone who's never been there and has low literacy or English
skills. What do you notice? How could it be improved? And for ABE
teachers: how might you help prepare your students to navigate this
system more easily?

Please let me know what you think about this!

All the best,
Julie

Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org

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