Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Computers in Libraries/Warfarin Guide

Yesterday a library staff member presented Patient Education Matters! Combing High Tech with High Touch in a Hospital Setting at the 2008 Computer in Libraries conference. If you would like additional information about this presentation, please email us at patienteducationmatters [at] gmail.com

Today's patient education resource is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) guide to Coumadin/Warfarin therapy for patients and their families, "Your Guide to Coumadin/Warfarin Therapy".

Topics covered include th use of other medications, possible side effects, specific conditions such as pregnancy and breastfeeding, and diet. This document is available online and can also be downloaded at no charge as a color .pdf document. Single print copies can be ordered online, free of charge.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

New Patient Education Materials Search Engine!

David Rothman has very kindly done what we've all wished we could do: created a google search engine that searches across multiple patient education websites at once!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Guide to Creating a "Pill Card" from the AHRQ

How to Create a Pill Card is now available at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) website. A pill card is a simple, visual way to show all of the medicines that a person needs to take on a regular basis.

This guide, also available in .pdf format, can be used by health care professionals and others to create an easy-to-use pill card for patients and their families to assist in keeping track of their medicines.

Step-by-step instructions, sample clip art, and suggestions for design and use are included.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Two New Clinical Trials Resources from the National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is pleased to announce the availability of two new resources: a new DVD, "Understanding Cancer Clinical Trials" and a new booklet, "Taking Part in Cancer Treatment Research Studies".

These resources will help health care professionals discuss clinical trials with potential participants, their families, peers, and community groups. The new 17-minute DVD replaces two previous videos, incorporating the content of both. The new 16-page booklet replaces two previous tools: "If You Have Cancer: What You Need to Know about Clinical Trials" and "Taking Part in Clinical Trials: What Cancer Patients Need to Know". The DVD and booklet can be ordered free of charge by calling1-800-4-CANCER or by going to NCI's Clinical Trials Education Series website.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Tip Sheet on Creating Oral Health Patient Handouts

The National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) is pleased to announce the availability of "A Way with Words: Guidelines for Writing Oral Health Materials for Audiences with Limited Literacy".

This resource was developed to assist professionals working to improvethe oral health of infants, children, adolescents, and their families.

"A Way with Words" provides tips to help those who produce educational materials make them easy for everyone to understand, and thus more useful. The tip sheet offers suggestions for how to choose words; set an appropriate tone; and craft sentences, paragraphs, lists, and headings that communicate most effectively with people with limited literacy.

Ideas for how to design documents and how to present unfamiliar terminology are also presented. A list of resources for more information is included.

Single or multiple print copies of this resource are available at no charge from the HRSA Information Center, P.O. Box 2910, Merrifield, VA22116, phone: (888) ASK-HRSA (275-4772), fax: (703) 821-2098, e-mail: ask@hrsa.gov

Electronic copies, in .pdf format, are available at no cost from OHRC's Web site and can be photocopied for use.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Patient Handout in Korean on Neonatal Jaundice

Today The Librarians were asked to find a handout in Korean on neonatal jaundice. Fortunately the NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service, New South Wales Government, Department of Health, has a plethora of patient handouts in a variety of languages.

Sure enough, there was a handout, in .PDF format, entitled Jaundice in Newborn Babies. A nice "resource details" page gives you a one sentence description of the handout, the date it was last updated, and a list of the handout's availability in other languages. A great resource!

Do you have any handouts in Korean on neonatal jaundice? Let us know by commenting below or emailing us.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Web-Based, Self-Paced Course on Health Literacy

"Unified Health Communication 101: Addressing Health Literacy,Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency" is a free online course designed to help health professionals improve their patient-communication skills, increase their awareness and knowledge of factors that affect their communication with patients, and implement patient-centered communication practices.

The course, developed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, comprises five modules and is estimated to take a total of 5 hours to complete.

The course may be completed at the user's own pace and may be taken for credit (CEU/CE,CHES, CME, and CNE) or not for credit.

More information, including registration instructions, is available at the health literacy training website.