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Functional illiteracy is a problem often overlooked by nurses. Although the average adult in the United States cannot read above the eighth-grade level, most patient education materials are written on a high-school or college reading level. If patients cannot read educational materials, then there is little hope of them using or understanding the information. Strategies for improving the readability of education materials specific to the needs of nephrology patients are discussed in this article.  

Michael D. Aldridge, MSN, RN, CCRN, is a Nurse Educator in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital of Austin in Austin, Texas. He also serves as the Home Dialysis Coordinator for the Children’s Dialysis Clinic of Central Texas in Austin, TX.

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