Key Information
Project Title: Improving Health Literacy for Effective Navigation of the Healthcare System
Call: Public Call for the Selection of Research Projects under the Target Research Programme “CRP 2023”
Funder: ARIS – Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Project Number / Code: V3-2327
Project Duration: 1 October 2023 – 30 September 2025
Project Holder: University of Novo mesto, Faculty of Health Sciences
Total Project Value: EUR 50,000.00
Funding Information: The project is co-financed by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (50%) and the Ministry of Health (50%)
Project Leader at FZVCE: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tamara Štemberger Kolnik
Project Description
The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes the crucial role of health literacy in empowering individuals to make informed decisions and to take control of their health. From policymakers, healthcare organizations, and all key stakeholders who can contribute to raising the health literacy of the population, WHO expects increased activities to enhance navigational health literacy through patient-centered approaches, clear communication, and accessible health information.
By developing and implementing programs focused on improving health literacy, individuals are encouraged to take a more active role and responsibility in entering and navigating the healthcare system. Such programs facilitate the understanding of the healthcare system, improve communication within the system, and ensure equal access to healthcare services for vulnerable groups.
The first national study on health literacy in Slovenia revealed significant gaps: nearly half of the population has limited health literacy, with difficulties in assessing and using health information in everyday life. Navigational health literacy is identified as a particularly pressing issue, as most adults struggle to orient themselves in the complex healthcare system. Older adults, individuals with lower levels of education, and those facing financial deprivation encounter additional barriers to effective healthcare navigation.
Evidence-based patient pathways through the healthcare system represent a valuable tool for improving navigational health literacy in the general population. Since they involve all stakeholders in prevention, diagnostics, treatment, and rehabilitation, they optimize resource use, foster multidisciplinary care with continuous communication among team members, and enable holistic patient management. They also play an important role in monitoring healthcare quality and supporting meaningful and rational digitalization of the healthcare system.
Project activities are therefore focused on prioritizing the preparation of patient pathways for five diseases that pose the greatest societal burden during the project period. To prepare these pathways, expert and patient interviews will be conducted, and all relevant clinical guidelines will be reviewed. Specialists in the selected diseases will be included. Implementing patient pathways in the healthcare system has positive effects on the economy by improving quality and efficiency of resource use, speeding up diagnosis, enabling more effective treatment, shortening rehabilitation, and reducing work absenteeism due to sick leave. Importantly, patient pathways also stimulate investments in healthcare infrastructure as well as research and innovation, thereby fostering economic growth.
The purpose of project activities is to identify five key chronic diseases/conditions that represent a burden for the Slovenian healthcare system, to examine the current patient journey for these conditions in Slovenia, and to prepare the best possible patient pathway across the healthcare system, available to any patient regardless of where they enter the system.
Objectives
- Identify five key chronic diseases/conditions that burden the Slovenian healthcare system:
- Analyze statistical indicators of incidence, prevalence, and mortality related to chronic diseases/conditions in Slovenia.
- Identify which chronic diseases/conditions result in the longest waiting times in the healthcare system.
- Determine which chronic diseases/conditions represent the greatest financial burden in healthcare.
- Develop optimal patient pathways through the Slovenian healthcare system for the five selected chronic diseases/conditions:
- Conduct interviews/focus groups with patients with selected chronic diseases/conditions.
- Review organizational clinical pathways for patients with these conditions in healthcare institutions.
- Draft the optimal patient pathway for each selected disease/condition.
- Evaluate the developed pathways.
- Disseminate the research findings widely to the general public, professionals, and the scientific community, and provide a foundation for national-level implementation of the patient pathways.
Work Packages
WP1: Identification of five key chronic diseases/syndromes/conditions
Objective: Identify five key chronic diseases/conditions that burden the Slovenian healthcare system.
WP2: Preparation of a draft national patient pathway for chronic diseases/syndromes/conditions across the healthcare system
Objective: Develop optimal patient pathways for the five selected chronic diseases/conditions.
WP3: Definition of indicators and evaluation of the developed patient pathways
Objective: Evaluate the developed patient pathways for the selected diseases/conditions and disseminate results.
WP4: Dissemination of research results
Objective: Disseminate research findings as widely as possible to the general, professional, and scientific public and provide a foundation for implementing the developed pathways at the national level.
Project Results
- Report: Criteria for selecting five chronic diseases/conditions.
- Report: Optimal patient pathway in the Slovenian healthcare system – research findings.
- Monograph with research results.
- Original scientific article for the scientific community: Navigational health literacy for patients with chronic diseases/conditions.
- Report: Patient pathway in the healthcare system (five documents).
- Report: Evaluation report of patient pathways in the healthcare system (five documents).
- Original scientific article for the scientific community: Evaluation of patient pathways for patients with chronic diseases/conditions in the Slovenian healthcare system.
- Report: Proposal for assessment of patient pathways at the Strategic Council of the Ministry of Health and further scientific and other publications.
- Monograph: Navigational Health Literacy and the Selection of Five Chronic Diseases/Conditions.
- Monograph: Health Literacy and the Management of Periodontal Disease – The Patient Pathway from Prevention to Treatment and Maintenance.
