Health literacy is recognised as being a key health determinant that focuses on an individual’s ability to understand, function, and negotiate health issues and systems. An individual’s health literacy level can range from low to high, and low health literacy is known to contribute to significantly worse self-management of health and poorer health outcomes. This is important, as surveys show that the majority of New Zealanders are limited in being able to manage those tasks and skills that are associated with health literacy. 

Pharmacists are in a key position to help patients improve their knowledge and skills around health and medicines therapy thereby improving patient outcomes.

Health literacy is recognised as being a key health determinant that focuses on an individual’s ability to understand, function, and negotiate health issues and systems. An individual’s health literacy level can range from low to high, and low health literacy is known to contribute to significantly worse self-management of health and poorer health outcomes. This is important, as surveys show that the majority of New Zealanders are limited in being able to manage those tasks and skills that are associated with health literacy. 

Pharmacists are in a key position to help patients improve their knowledge and skills around health and medicines therapy thereby improving patient outcomes.

Motivational interviewing (M.I)  is a patient-centred counselling approach that can be briefly integrated into patient encounters and helps patients resolve their ambivalence about behaviour change and builds their intrinsic motivation before providing education

Understanding of local and regional demographic data is crucial to ensure services are targeted correctly to the right populations in the right places, at the right times.