Educational Tools for Our Trade

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Joint Commission Resources for Patient and Family Education (Word .doc 36K)  (Posted 2/19/10)

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Guidelines for the Practice of Diabetes (Word .doc 28K)  (Posted 2/18/10)

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Wilder, Claudyne.  Point, click & wow! The techniques and habits of successful presenters.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 2008.  Print.

In Point, Click & Wow!  the insider knowledge of public speaking that we all need but were never taught is given. This book offers myriad new features and updated slide designs as well as illustrative stories and advice from executives.

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Finkelstein, Ellen.  How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007.  McGraw-Hill Osborne Media, 2006.  Print.

Create dynamic and professional-quality presentations using sage advice, handy tips, and clear descriptions from PowerPoint expert Ellen Finkelstein. This book gives you that extra edge with best-practice design, layout, and organizational techniques that will make your presentations leap off the screen.

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Finding Clinical Trial Results - National Library of Medicine Resources
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) responds to more than 100,000 questions each year.  Regularly asked questions become Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). NLM Reference and Consumer Health FAQs are at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/faqref.html. We review and update our FAQs frequently. The FAQ resources include national and international government agencies and non-profit organizations. One of our FAQs is about finding the results of clinical trials.

The FAQ: Clinical Trials Results, at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/ctresults.html, links to the ClinicalTrials.gov database. ClinicalTrials.gov contains information about more than 78,000 trials with locations in more than 170 countries. There is also a link explaining how to identify studies in ClinicalTrials.gov that have results. This FAQ also shows you search strategies to conduct if you want to search for a specific study or search for clinical trials on a specific disease, or in a geographical area. There are also links to other government and university resources.

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CDC Mobile Web site - http://www.cdc.gov/mobile/
Your Mobile Source for Credible Health Information
CDC's health information is now available on your mobile device. Visit m.cdc.gov on your mobile phone or PDA for information on seasonal flu, H1N1 flu, public health emergencies, and more. This site is designed to be easily read and navigated from mobile devices and will soon feature even more health and safety topics.

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Ohio State University AHEC Health Literacy Program - http://healthliteracy.osu.edu/
The Ohio State University AHEC Health Literacy Program offers a comprehensive online professional development and continuing education program in the field of health literacy.  The program offers continuing education credits and is appropriate for physicians, nurses, therapists, counselors, and all health practitioners providing direct or indirect patient care. There are a total of 9 modules to choose from and each module costs $15.00 to complete.  (Posted 9/15/09)

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Free Online Multicultural Health Care Improvement Guide
NCQA is pleased to announce the release of a free, web-based version of Multicultural Health Care: A Quality Improvement Guide at http://www.clashealth.org/ . The guide, developed by NCQA in collaboration with Lilly USA, LLC, serves as a resource for those wanting to undertake quality improvement initiatives to improve culturally and linguistically appropriate services and to reduce disparities in care.

The site is intended for health care organizations such as managed care plans, large group practices, hospitals, public health agencies, disease management organizations, community health centers and other institutions that provide and/or arrange for care of diverse patients. Originally published in hard copy, the guide is now available in an easy-to-navigate web-based format.

A tour of the site is available at http://www.clashealth.org/take-a-tour.html
(Posted 9/15/09)

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Using Principles of Health Literacy to Enhance the Informed Consent Process (PDF)
The language commonly used in consent documents often exceeds the average person's reading level in the U.S. Because of this, many patients do not stop to read their consent form before signing it.  By incorporating reader-friendly principles into consent documents, it is more likely that patients will read it, understand it, and actually provide their informed consent. (Posted 7/28/09)

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Communication Techniques for Patients with Low Health Literacy: A Survey of Physicians, Nurses and Pharmacists (PDF)
Health care providers can improve communications with patients with low health literacy by following certain techniques such as slowing down, using drawings, common language and teach-back techniques and creating a shame-free environment. This article explores the use of these techniques and what HCPs can do to improve patient understanding and care outcomes. (Posted 7/28/09)

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Filling gaps in knowledge:  educating nurses to provide appropriate patient materials, by Cannon S, Boswell C., Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing, Odessa, Texas, USA.
Assessing and addressing health literacy is a key issue in providing quality patient education. Often, nurses do not know how to do this. Continuing nursing education provides a venue for filling this gap in knowledge, contributing to better and safer patient care.
J. Contin. Educ. Nurs., 2009 Apr;40(4): 148-49  (Posted 7/9/09)

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Patient education program slashes ED readmissions, [No authors listed]
Boston University Medical Center's ED saw 30% fewer readmits after the implementation of a new patient education discharge program. The program has several key elements that contributed to its success, including: Customized booklets for each patient, with information specific to their disease or injury, their medications, and follow-up appointments. Charts in which patients can track important data, such as their blood sugar levels. Contact by a pharmacist two to four days after discharge to reinforce the key education messages.
ED Manag.  2009 Apr;21(4):42-3  (Posted 7/9/09)

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Personalized health information, by Spatz MA, Planetree Health Resource Center at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, OR, USA., micheles@mcmc.net
This is the second in a series of articles from Planetree, an international nonprofit organization founded in 1978 that's "committed to improving medical care from the patient's perspective." For more information, go to
www.planetree.org.
Am J Nurs. 2009 Apr;109(4):70-2  (Posted 7/9/09)

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Patients' reasons for refraining from discussing internet health information with their healthcare providers, by Imes RS, Bylund CL, Sabee CM, Routsong TR, Sanford AA, Department of Communication, Carroll University, Waukesha, WI 53186, USA. rimes@carrollu.edu
This exploratory study examined factors that constrain patients from discussing Internet health information with their healthcare providers. Participants (N = 714) were asked to list reasons why they have not talked with their providers about Internet health information they had found. Factors (N = 767) included patient attributions about the information, systems or circumstances, fear of treading on the provider's turf, face-saving concerns, and patient perceptions of provider attributions about the information. Comparisons between those who had and those who had not talked to their healthcare providers about their Internet research revealed significant differences in types of constraining factors indicated. Issues concerning an increasingly Internet-savvy public and provider-patient relationships are considered in the discussion within the framework of the goals, planning, action theory. Continued efforts in provider and patient education can help to overcome barriers that restrict communication concerning Internet health research.
Health Commun. 2008 Nov;23(6):538-47. (Posted 7/9/09)

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Joint Commission white papers on culture, language family-centered care and literacy
http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/HLC/
These white papers provide an overview of what health care providers need to know in order to address needs related to culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations, effective communication, cultural competence, and patient-centered care.

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MyDelivery: a prototype communications tool. May, 2009. http://mydelivery.nlm.nih.gov
MyDelivery is a web-based, secure, HIPAA-compliant program from the National Library of Medicine. It provides users with a fast, easy and secure method to exchange medical information. It is currently in the Beta test phase and is free to use during the trial.

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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Educating Patients Before They Leave the Hospital Reduces Readmissions, Emergency Department Visits and Saves Money. February 2, 2009
http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2009/redpr.htm
This short article speaks to the value of patient and family education and is based on a randomized controlled study at Boston University Medical Center's Department of Family Medicine.

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National Institute of Health. Helping Older Adults Search for Healthcare Information Online: A Toolkit for Trainers. November 2007 - http://nihseniorhealth.gov/toolkit/toolkit.html
The Toolkit is a valuable asset for anyone in healthcare who uses the web or who teaches others to use the web for medical information. Although it is written with seniors in mind, it is a useful guide for anyone.

Do you have an educational resource that you would like to share with other HCEA members? Contact Dinah Smith at dsmith4@selfregional.org