A Transdisciplinary Approach to Improve Health Literacy and Reduce Disparities

¹ acting director for the Center for Quality at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the HRSA health literacy coordinator in Rockville, Maryland.
² assistant director of the National Eye Health Education Program at the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health, in Rockville, Maryland.
³ senior advisor on Clinical Quality and Culture for the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities/Office of the Chief Medical Officer at the Health Resources and Services Administration, in Bethesda, Maryland.
⁴ diabetes nurse educator at Unity Healthcare in Washington, D.C.
⁵ president of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved and the medical director at the Upper Cardozo Community Health Center in Washington, D.C.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

A challenge to public health professionals, health care providers, and consumers is to come together to improve the quality of health care and to eliminate disparities. Improving health literacy skills along with a transdisciplinary approach to care contributes to effective patient-provider communication. This article addresses a team approach to health care, a community health center experience, self-management skills, patient education, and cultural competency training. In addition, the authors provide concepts that can be incorporated in health care settings to eliminate health disparities and improve health literacy.

Key Words: chronic disease, cultural competency, cross-cultural, health disparities collaborative, health disparities, health literacy, quality health care, self-management, transdisciplinary model, Unity Health Care

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