“I don’t want my stuff dumbed down...”This recenT posT from Fran London, author of No Time to Teach, really hit home. By offering simpler ways to express important health information, we hope you agree we are not “dumbing down” what you have written.

Our approach is to try to put ourselves in the patient’s shoes, a place most of us have been. In those shoes, would you like to read medical terms and explanations, or would simple terms and descriptions work better? Remember, being highly educated does not automatically mean patients understand medical terms, how to interpret test results, or how to decipher a prescription label.

Please take a few minutes to read what Fran London has to say:

“I don’t want my stuff dumbed down. All my patients understand this!”I confess, when I hear reactions like this I wonder: Is this health care professional specializing in diseases of the well-educated? Or dealing with medical problems possible only in those with high health literacy skills?

But is there a disease that hits only the health literate? Even if your patient population is exclusively wealthy, poor health literacy skills are not limited to a socio-economic group.

First, let me address “dumbing down.” Dumbing down means oversimplifying to the degree of losing meaning. When health education materials are edited for readability, they are not dumbed down, they are made clear, so folks without knowledge of medical jargon and biochemistry can understand them. Essential information is not removed.

I challenge the claim that material written at a college-level is understood by everyone, and that it has actually always worked. I propose too many assumptions are made, with too little testing of data.

More “Dumbed down” on page 2

PATIENTEDUCAT RFALL 2011

PAtient And FAmiLy educAtion ServiceS

HIRC Welcomes New StaffThe healTh informaTion resource cenTer (HIRC) is excited to be expanding our staff!

As of September 26, Briana Brewer is our new Program Coordinator. Briana is a recent graduate from the Community Health Education Program at Western Washington University. Briana is an asset to visitors to the HIRC not only because of her health care experience and caring, but because she is originally from the Seattle area, and is very familiar with both UWMC and the surrounding area.

Kate Bradley is the newest addition to our wonderful crew of volunteers. Kate is a retired librarian from Bellevue Community College. She will be staffing the HIRC on Wednesdays.

Welcome to both Briana and Kate! We are thrilled to have you as a part of our staff.

The HIRC is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call the Health Information Resource Center at 598-7960, or e-mail healthed@u.washington.edu.

event

Please Join Us to Honor Recipients

of the

for

outstanding Patient & Family

Educator

Thursday

October 273:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Waterfront Activities Center

2011 Golden eddy

AwArd

PatientEducator, Fall 2011 Page 2

Have you ever had a patient who did not perform as instructed? Did not take the medicine as prescribed? Did not show up for the medical test adequately prepared? Never came back for that follow-up appointment? How do you know that patient understood your communications? Did you use teach back to evaluate understanding?

And how well did you listen to that patient’s concerns? Sometimes, when a patient worries about something we professionals feel is a minor issue, it may mean that patient really doesn’t understand the problem. Rather than brush off the minor concern, the appropriate response would be to question the patient to uncover the root understanding, and correct misperceptions.

© 2011 Fran London, MS, RN: http://notimetoteach.com/2011/dumbed-down

Compelling AMA VideoWatch this compelling video (4.5 minutes long), produced by the American Medical Association, for insights into low health literacy and the importance of teach-back:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgTuD7l7LG8&feature=related

Dumbed downContinued from page 1

Are Your Health Online Handouts Up to Date?healTh online is now available on the Internet, which means all of UWMC’s patient and family education materials can be accessed by anyone anywhere via the World Wide Web.

Until now, Health Online has been an intranet site, available only to UWMC staff from UWMC-network

computers. This move to the Internet means it is even more important that we have only our most current handouts and materials on Health Online.

Over the next 6 months, PFES staff will be working with all UWMC units and departments to make sure your patient education materials are up to date and accurate.

Here’s what you can do to make sure your listings are current:

1. Open Health Online from the Clinical toolkit or this direct link: https://healthonline.washington.edu.

2. Bring up a list of your unit’s or department’s handout titles by clicking on your department name from the list on the right side of the page.

3. Scan this list for titles published in 2007 or earlier (be sure to note the most recent date, which is on the last line of each listing).

4. Review those titles published in 2008 or earlier to see if they:

• Need to be updated. If they do, make your changes on a printed copy and send them to PFES, box 359420. Or request a Word draft frompfes@u.washington.edu that you can work on electronically.

• Need to be removed from Health Online because they are no longer used. If this is the case, please let us know by emailing pfes@u.washington.edu.

• Are fine as they are, but need a new clinician review/published date on them so that it’s clear they are current. When we update this publication information we will also update the UWMC logo. Please notify PFES at pfes@u.washington.edu if any of your handouts fall into this category.

Thank you for helping us complete this important project by April 30, 2012!

New “Call So You Don’t Fall” Postersover The pasT several months, PFES staff and volunteers have worked endless hours putting up “Call So You Don’t Fall” posters in all inpatient rooms on 4-East, 4-Northeast, 4-South, 4-Southeast, 5-Northeast, 6-Northeast, 7-Northeast, 7-Southeast, and 8-Northeast.

The new colorful posters include a red “stop” sign to grab the patient’s attention. They encourage patients who are at fall risk to use their call button and ask for assistance when getting out of bed. The goal is to have fewer falls and fewer patients who say after they fall that they “didn’t want to bother the nurse.”

what’s New on Health OnlineNow accessible from any computer! Visit https://healthonline.washington.edu

It’s becoming redundant to say we’ve had a busy, productive quarter — they’re all busy! Once again, you’ve kept us on our toes updating your existing patient education materials and creating new ones. In all, we completed 83 handouts and translations this quarter. Below is just a small sampling. All are available on Health Online at https://healthonline.washington.edu, through the Clinical Toolkit, or by clicking on the individual title:

Cardiac Electrophysiology Lab: Stacie Marlatt, formerly of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Lab, began working on revisions to several handouts before her position changed, and when she did move on, Teresa Dodge didn’t miss a beat in seeing revisions on these handouts through to completion. These handouts are now

standardized with an easy-to-find-and-fill-out last page for follow-up appointments. Handout titles are Caring for Your Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator, Caring for Your Internal Loop Recorder, Caring for Your Pacemaker, and Your Subcutaneous Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator. Newly created this quarter is After Your X-rays, a 1-page handout that advises patients to call if any rare symptoms occur after they have X-rays.

women’s Health: We worked with Robin Pfaff, from Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Benerita Delamerced, from the Women’s Health Care Clinic, to create new handouts and complete revisions to others in record time so that they would be ready for the launch of the In

Vitro Fertilization Clinic this summer. Revised is In Vitro Fertilization, and newly created are IVF Egg Retrieval, After Your Egg Retrieval, Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, Assisted Hatching, and Embryo Transfer.

Urology: Alexia Bonkowski, of the Urology Clinic, may be setting a record for number of new handouts completed in a short amount

of time! These handouts provide information on a range of male sexual health issues, from vasectomy and vasectomy reversal, to semen collection, to penile plication. Since June she has completed 13 new handouts. For all the titles, please see the list of completed handouts at the end of this newsletter. Nine more handouts are still in the works, and we have no doubt Alexia will complete them before long.

5-Northeast: Heart Failure is a new 2-page handout that Leah Spacciante of 5-Northeast steered to completion. This handout is

more than a quick reference for patients to know when they should call for help after they are discharged; it is also a teaching tool. If a patient cannot teach back crucial information the handout covers before discharge, nurses will review this information with them to ensure they do understand before they go home. Our hope is that using teach-back to confirm understanding will reduce readmission rates for heart-failure patients.

Bone Marrow Donation: We have two new handouts for bone marrow donors that tell donors what to expect and who to contact if they have questions or problems

after they donate. One is called After Donating Bone Marrow for Your Family Member. The second is called After Donating Bone Marrow for the NMDP (National Marrow Donation Program) and is intended for unrelated donors. We collaborated with SCCA’s Dr. Michael Linenberger, Ann Breen, and Sara Olsen to complete these handouts after Belva Laughlin, of the UWMC PACU, let us know the only information we had for marrow donors was outdated and poorly reproduced.

PatientEducator, Fall 2011 Page 3

REVISED

Handout RevisionsWhen you see that a revised version of a handout that you use is available, please recycle any old ones you have, discard any old electronic files, and start using the current version. The new one will have not only updated contact information, but also the latest clinical information. It might even have a new title!

How PFES Can Help YouPFES staff provide editing for reading level, organization, and content; patient advisor review; and design and formatting services at no charge to UWMC units and clinics.

To revise existing or produce new patient and family education materials, contact Debby Nagusky, Health Educator, at 598-0073 or dnagusky@u.washington.edu.

REVISED

Patient and Family Education ServicesBox 359420

1959 N.E. Pacific St. Seattle, Washington 98195

Please route this issue of PatientEducator to your staff. Find links to this issue and previous issues on Health Online at https:healthonline.washington.edu and the PFES website at https://depts.washington.edu/pfes. Patient and Family Education Committee Members: Rosanna Atienza, Susan Barnes, Sherry Dodson, Andrea Dotson, Alison Evert, Linda Golley, Philip Hainley, Cara Havens, Thomas Hei, Ken Jelinek, Debbie Jones, Dori Khakpour, Stacia Lee, Gary Martin, Karen Moe, Debby Nagusky, Bridget O’Connor, Maria Ross, Cindy Sayre, Carrel Sheldon, Nancy Colobong Smith, Leah Spacciante, Julie Sprinkle, Nancy Tvedt, Richard Verver, Margrit Walde, Nancy Whittington, Pam Younghans

Editor: Carrel Sheldon, 206-598-7498carrels@u.washington.edu

Core Purpose: we’re here to inform patients about their health and empower their decision-making about their health care.

Embryo TransferFoods for Sick Days (Rev. 04/2011) - AM, AR, CH, FA, JA, RU, SP, TI

Heart FailureHow to Give Yourself a Subcutaneous (SQ) Injection

How to Prepare for Your Surgery: Using MoviPrepHow to Prepare: For a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)

In Vitro Fertilization (Rev. 08/2011)IVF Egg RetrievalKegel ExercisesLeading a Healthy Life (Rev. 09/2011)Managing Pain: After your thoracic surgeryMedicines for Type 2 Diabetes (Rev. 06/2011)Memory StrategiesMyringotomy with or without Tube Insertion (Rev. 07/2011)

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome PentoxifyllinePET F18 Fluoride Bone Scan (Rev. 08/2011)PET FDG Brain ScanPET FDG Scan (Rev. 07/2011)Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Ammonia Cardiac Scan (Rev. 08/2011)

Reading a Prescription Label and Ordering RefillsReceiving Radioactive Iodine for Thyroid Cancer - CH, SP

New, Revised, or Translated Patient Education Materials Third Quarter 2011 All titles are available on Health Online at https://healthonline.washington.edu

PatienteducatorFALL 2011

PatientEducator, Fall 2011 Page 4

Reflux EsophagitisReflux Esophagitis and Cystic Fibrosis

Seeing a Behavioral Health Provider

Stapedotomy (Rev. 07/2011)Thyroid Uptake and Scan (Rev. 04/2011) - RU

Tinnitus (Rev. 07/2011)Transtympanic Cochlear Perfusion Therapy (Rev. 07/2011)

Tympanoplasty (Rev. 07/2011)Vascular Dialysis Access (Rev. 06/2011)

What You Need to Know: Facts about male infertility

What You Need to Know: How to prepare and what to expect after penile plication

What You Should Know: About a vasectomy

Women and Alcohol (Rev. 09/2011)Your Subcutaneous Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD) (Rev. 09/2011)

NotesDates indicate new publication date of revised titles. All titles are available in English. Key for translations: CH = Chinese, JA = Japanese, KO = Korean, RU = Russian, SP = Spanish, TA = Tagalog, VI = Vietnamese

7 Steps to Better Communication (Rev. 04/2011)About Your Appointment: Semen and urine collection

About Your Hand Surgery - CHAbout Your Procedure: Retrograde semen collection

About Your Procedure: Sperm RetrievalAbout Your Procedure: Testicular fine needle aspiration mapping

About Your Procedure: VasectomyAbout Your Surgery: Penile plicationAbout Your Surgery: Penile prosthesisAbout Your Surgery: Vasectomy reversalAfter Donating Bone Marrow for the NMDPAfter Donating Bone Marrow for Your Family Member

After Your ASD/PFO Closure - CH, KO, RU, SO, SP, VI

After Your Atrial Fibrillation AblationAfter Your Baclofen TrialAfter Your Dupuytren’s Contracture Release Surgery (Rev. 09/2011)

After Your Egg RetrievalAfter Your Needle AponeurotomyAfter Your PIP Joint Replacement Surgery (Rev. 06/2011)

After Your Pump or Stimulator Is PlacedAfter Your X-raysAnti-Platelet Medicines (Rev. 09/2011)Assisted HatchingAttention StrategiesBaclofen Trial (Rev. 07/2011)Before and After Your Surgery: Penile prosthesisBioenergy Treatments (Rev. 06/2011)Blood Glucose LogCaring for Your Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (Rev. 09/2011)

Caring for Your Internal Loop Recorder (Rev. 09/2011)

Caring for Your Pacemaker (Rev. 09/2011)Chemical Perfusion of the Inner Ear (Rev. 08/2011)

Diabetes and Pregnancy (Rev. 02/2011) - SPDiaphragm and Jelly Method of Birth Control (Rev. 08/2011)

DIEP Breast Flap Reconstruction (Rev. 07/2011)