In the EU the ageing population has a fundamental effect on the sustainability of society. Approximately, 47% of the EU population has low health literacy, leaving them unable to understand health information, navigate services, adequately use medication, and self-manage their condition. These problems are more prominent in an ageing population. In practice, professionals mostly overestimate patients’ HL level and lack adequate competencies to address low health literacy effectively. One contributing factor is that he NO OR VERY LITTLE TRAINING IN HEALTH LITERACY. Mastering such competences will fill a major gap in the current and future EU workforce. The FP7 IROHLA consortium has delivered an evidence-based training programme for health professionals which promoted the development of essential health literacy competencies. Transfer of these findings into higher education will: increase the value of health professionals for the labour market; fill a major gap in the current EU workforce; and, improve the sustainability of EU health systems. The Strategic Partnership IMPACCT stands for IMproving PAtient-centered Communication Competences: TO BUILD PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY CONCERNING HEALTH LITERACY IN MEDICAL AND NURSING EDUCATION. IMPACCT will improve the relevance and quality of education of medical and nursing students in Europe through the development, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of a health literacy Educational Programme (HL-EP). The HL-EP will enhance the development of required competencies of medical and nursing students to address low health literacy effectively. IMPACCT will: 1. Facilitate the involvement of relevant European stakeholders in order to strengthen co-creation during all stages of IMPACCT and promote integration of the HL-EP in curricula (see project management ); 2. Account for the needs of stakeholders to promote integration of the HL Learning Units in existing curricula (policy brief: intellectual output O1); 3. Promote evidence-based education by developing basic and more advanced health literacy Learning Units and prepare medical and nursing students for complex situations in everyday practice (O2 and O3); 4. Implement the HL-EP in 8 pilot sites in 5 countries and assess the impact of the Learning Units on the development of competencies of medical and nursing students (O2, O3); 5. Promote self-regulated and lifelong learning by the development and testing of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to strengthen the fundamental HL competencies of a large number of learners (O4); 6. Describe quality standards and provide guidance for educational professionals in supporting sustainable changes (O5), paving the way for a European standard for supporting quality of care; 7. Actively disseminate the HL-EP using the Health Literacy Centre Europe (HLCE) and other strategies to reach our target groups (see H2). IMPACCT is an INTER-DISCIPLINARY AND INTER-SECTORAL CONSORTIUM combining the expertise of five leading partners from the IROHLA project and relevant new partners. UPJS-Slovakia has been invited as a new partner because of its expertise with marginalized communities and EURASHE because they can promote dissemination and synergies on an European level. All partners of IMPACCT have a solid track-record on the major aspects of IMPACCT. This European wide consortium is prepared to develop a high quality, innovative and coherent European educational programme leading to improvement and standardisation of health literacy capacity in the EU. The participatory approach and a great diversity of partners will facilitate the production of innovative Learning Units with attractive and practice-oriented education. ACTIVITIES in production of intellectual outputs include: • Consult stakeholders to define the main objectives and strategies of Learning Units for medical and nursing students and to discuss potential integration in existing curricula; • Develop basic and more advanced health literacy Learning Units and implement them on testing sites • Define the main lessons learned after implementation of the HL-Learning Units; • Assess the effect of the HL-EP on the development of competencies; • Production of a MOOC; • Development of quality standards and guidelines; • Dissemination of the results of IMPACCT. In sum, IMPACCT will increase awareness across the EU of the opportunities to improve the relevance and quality of medical and nursing education. Its participatory approach will yield an educational programme which matches the needs of students and educational professionals, and facilitates integration of attractive and effective Learning Units into existing curricula. In this way, IMPACCT will speed up the quality improvement of medical and nursing education and have a positive effect on the quality and accessibility of health services and can reduce associated costs.
Persons with Limited Health Literacy (LHL) do not benefit as much as they could from healthcare services. LHL is associated with earlier onset and faster progression of diseases, higher rates of hospitalization and higher mortality rates. Healthcare providers often have insufficient competences to communicate effectively with persons with LHL. The main objective of IMPACCT was to improve the relevance and quality of education of medical and nursing students in Europe through development, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of a Health Literacy Educational Programme (HL-EP) to enhance the development of required Europe-wide health literacy competences. DEVELOPMENT OF THE HL-EP. To develop an educational framework with relevant learning outcomes, a co-creation approach was used involving over 600 stakeholders such as students, educators, healthcare professionals, citizens, and patients’ associations. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence on the needs and perspectives of older persons with LHL. During an iterative process, basic and more advanced Learning Units (LU) were developed and revised. A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for (future) healthcare professionals was created and tested based on the content of the LUs. IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF THE HL-EP. A mixed methods approach was used to pilot test HL-EP educational activities in higher education settings. PROMOTING USE OF THE HL-EP AND MOOC. A qualitative study was conducted among educational decision makers in Europe to explore HL-EP implementation barriers and facilitators. A range of dissemination activities were developed to promote use of IMPACCT results. RESULTS: AN EVIDENCE-BASED HL-EP. Based on the input of stakeholders a person-centred and comprehensive flexible educational framework was developed using existing HL intervention models, educational frameworks (e.g. CanMEDS), and the systematic review (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31694299/). The HL-EP contains education on four main themes: a) strengthening patients’ support systems, b) strengthening patients’ self-management capacities, c) improving healthcare professionals‘ interpersonal capacities, d) reducing barriers in healthcare organizations. FEASIBLE AND PROMISING HL-EP. Most learning units (1ECT or more) have been tested at least once between March 2018 and December 2019. Overall, 26 pilots of learning units took place in six countries: Italy, Ireland, Germany, China, Ireland, and the Netherlands. After training students were more aware of the needs of patients with LHL and more skilled to provide person-centred care. All topics were seen as relevant and educational activities were well received by students and educators. Students also responded positively to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators were positive about integration into existing curriculum. The HL-EP was independently recognized as best practice in the Joint Statement of the European Thematic Network "Profiling and training the health care workers of the future". HL MOOC PROMOTES LIFELONG LEARNING. The HL MOOC at FutureLearn reached over 1200 learners with different backgrounds. The MOOC was evaluated positively and learners feedback will strengthen its quality. Multiple reruns in 2021 will help increase HL-EP impact and transferability. Additional funding from EIT Health and UMCG supported development of a second MOOC on organisational health literacy and person-centred care. ACCESSIBLE HL-EP AND POLICY BRIEF. The qualitative research showed that each context has different needs and asks for different approaches to enhance implementation of (components of) the HL-EP. Therefore, the HL-EP offers adaptable, student-centred, practice-oriented and competency-based education. All the materials of the HL-EP are freely accessible (http://healthliteracycentre.eu/impacct). A manual contains relevant guidance for educators such as the educational philosophy, learning outcomes, educational activities and assessment. HL-EP offers more than 80 evidence-based educational activities, such as interactive lectures, role-plays, assignments, and workshops. IMPACCT has summarised the main results, lessons learned and recommendations in four scientific articles and a policy brief, aimed at raising awareness among education decision-makers, policymakers, researchers, educators and other key stakeholders of the importance of HL education and promoting its integration into health professional education. IN CONCLUSION. This comprehensive and person-centred HL-EP will strengthen the HL competences of (future) healthcare professionals. A number of healthcare professional undergraduate programmes including medicine and nursing have already integrated content of the HL-EP in their curriculums and it is expected that many more organizations will follow. The IMPACCT consortium expect that the HL-EP will contribute to better person-centred care for everyone but especially for those with LHL.