Teresa
Wagner, DrPH, MS, CPH, RD/LD, CHWI
University of North Texas Health Science Center
Dr. Wagner currently works for SaferCare Texas (Institute for Patient Safety) as a Senior Fellow addressing health literacy. In that role, she has established a multi-stakeholder health literacy collaborative, developed health literacy programming and testified on health literacy legislation in Texas. She has a passion for helping people navigate healthcare. Her research focuses on health literacy, the ability for people to obtain, read, understand and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment. Her most recent project developed health literate education tools for postpartum moms to help them understand potential emergent symptoms warranting medical care.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
Few studies have looked at the effect of health literacy (ability of people to understand and use health information) on maternal morbidity and mortality. A woman's ability to use discharge information may depend on the large volume given, culture, degree of sleep deprivation, physical and emotional changes, possible side effects of medicine and low health literacy. Instructions may be too complex and lack cultural sensitivity. This project was based on a two-phase study focusing on the health literacy of postpartum education. In the first phase of the study, current postnatal education…