TALENT DEVELOPMENT (TD) DIMENSIONS: October 6 2021
Learning Leaders,
October is Health Literacy Month!
Your Mercy Care WFD Team presents this “care, share, and explore” opportunity for the month of October. Our goal is to connect you with the global training and development community to help you grow your professional skills, knowledge and abilities.
Monthly Focus: A global focus to consider incorporating into this month’s learning events.
- • Current Focus: October is Health Literacy Month!
- • Color: NA
- • About: The definition of Health Literacy underwent a makeover in 2020. This year we recognize and celebrate the new definition, split into two parts by a team of leading health literacy experts:
1. Personal health literacy: The degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
2. Organizational health literacy: The degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. - • Support Ideas: A few small changes might produce large benefits toward health literacy. Consider the educational level your of your member-facing material. Standard practice is to design content in line with 5th or 6th grade reading levels. Ask members what questions they have during each encounter to ensure their goals are met. Create a practice of closing each encounter with a member by asking them to summarize what they learned and next steps. Develop and implement a new member orientation experience based upon feedback from existing members. Ensure essential informational needs are addressed through the orientation. Finally, remember that health literacy isn’t only a clinical issue. All staff who engage with members should consider how health literacy may impact their encounters with members.
- • Resources: Consider incorporating the following resources to help further support health literacy:
1. Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA)
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
3. Developing online resources
4. US Department of Health and Human Services
5. US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Now Trending Spotlight on a TD industry trend to incorporate into your TD practice.
- What: Flipped Learning based upon concepts referred to as, “21st Century Learning”.
- Why: Active learning (provided through the Flipped Learning experience) according to research and constructivist theory, requires a learner to engage cognitive skills at a deeper level than does passive or inactive learning, thereby providing a deeper level of understanding and greater readiness to activate and apply learning content. Flipped Learning also supports a facilitated learning experience, whereby the involvement of the learner is equal to, if not greater than that of the facilitator.
- How: Create first-exposure learning opportunities/assignments ahead of the classroom/facilitation experience. Incentivize learners to complete the assignments in advance. With pre-requisite knowledge in hand, facilitators can then immediately engage learners in meaningful experiences that drive deeper understanding and application of the first-exposure content. The classroom experience is an extension of the assignment(s). If you’ve used action-oriented learning objectives, the classroom environment becomes an opportunity to activate and actualize them. With learners prepared in advance to apply what they’ve learned, facilitators can assess the degree to which knowledge transfer has occurred amongst learners, which is a foundation of instructional principles.
- To learn more:
1. Vanderbilt University
2. Brookings Institute
Current Quote: As usual, we leave you with a final thought and words of encouragement
The expert in anything was once a beginner.” ~ Anonymous
Interested in contributing to a future addition of TD Dimensions? Contact us at wfd@mercycareaz.org
