Health Literacy Competencies for Registered Nurses: An e-Delphi Study

Background: The Institute of Medicine's landmark report, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, recommends that health professionals be trained to effectively communicate with patients with limited health literacy. Nurse-specific competencies that explicitly address the needs of patients with low health literacy are lacking. Method: A national group of nurse health literacy experts (N = 41) participated in a three-round e-Delphi study to identify essential health literacy competencies for RNs in any work setting. Results: Based on partial replication of prior work by Coleman, Hudson, and Maine, a final list of 50 nursing health literacy core competencies were identified in round two and prioritized in round three. Conclusion: The final list of prioritized competencies generated in this study have been provided as a starting point for health literacy education efforts in practice.