Excellence Every Day represents an MGH commitment to providing the highest quality, safest care that meets or exceeds all standards set by the hospital and external organizations.

AN MGH NARRATIVE

Occupational Therapist Katie Russo, OTR/L, CHT, (left) provides a poignant example of using the teach-back/show-back methodology to empower Patricia to rehabilitate her arm after her radial fracture. Because Katie incorporated show-back into her plan of care, Patricia became a partner in her health care and they were both able to see Patricia progress towards regaining the use of her left arm and every day activities. more...

National Health Literacy Data

 

MGH DATA

HCAHPS Survey Introduction
HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a patient satisfaction survey that CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) requires for all US hospitals.

HCAHPS data for MGH:
(related to Patient Education)

• Discharge Information
• Medication Communication

Plain Language Consultations and Material Development/Review
Only 12% of Americans are considered proficient in health literacy. However, most patient education documents (i.e. discharge instructions, consent forms) contain too much information and are written at a college level or higher.  To ensure that patients receive information that they can understand and use, the Blum Center offers departments within Patient Care Services plain language consulting. Blum center staff trained in health literacy awareness and writing in plain language work with clinicians to produce patient education documents that are clear, easy to understand, and appropriate for all patient populations.

The process works as follows:

1. Clinician submits document to be reviewed, along with the completed Health Literacy Assessment form to pflc@partners.org
2. Blum Center staff completes an initial assessment including reading level, recommended changes, and an estimated timeframe for completion of the work.
3. If the clinician agrees with the recommended changes, the Blum Center staff edits the document within the agreed upon time frame.
4. Once the process is completed, the following statement is added to the document to demonstrate to our patients, families, and staff that the MGH is committed to promoting health literacy:

“This document has been reviewed for plain language by the staff of the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center.”

For more information, contact Jennifer Searl, health education project specialist, Blum Center.

 

Policies, Procedures & Guidelines:
(TROVE: internal access only)
Patient and Family Education

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Turn to a trusted source
The internet can be a great resource for many things, but there’s no guarantee that the health information you find will be accurate, safe or meet our patients care standards. Great resources are still just a click away on the MGH/Partners intranet.

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Patient Education Committee
The Collaborative Government Patient Education Committee (PEC) is a multidisciplinary team that supports clinical staff in developing their role in patient education activities that reflect the diverse patient population served by MGH. This is achieved through stimulating, facilitating and generating knowledge of patient education materials, programs, and resources in order to improve patient care and enhance the environment in which clinicians shape their practice.

The committee consists of 4 smaller subgroups that focus on specific patient education projects: Teach Back/ Show Back; Health Literacy; Communication; and Pay it Forward. Through these subgroups, the PEC has successfully created and distributed flyers and articles around effective patient education, presented seminars on health literacy, and coordinated activities for Health Literacy Awareness Month.

The Patient Education Committee meets the 2nd Wednesday monthly from 1:30-3:00pm in Sweet Conference Room GRB 432.

Collaborative Governance Patient Education Champions

TOOLKITS

Patient Education &
Health Literacy

• MGH Discharge Documents (internal access only)
  Library of post-discharge documents created by subject matter expert clinicians (updated at least biannually)  
• Health Literacy/Plain Language Overview
  Overview of health literacy, importance of plain language
• Sample of Plain Language
  Example of plain language editing
• Knowledge Deficit Documentation
  Overview of components to include in knowledge deficit diagnosis for progress note and two samples of related progress note documentation  
• Teachable Moments-Teach Back
  Explanation of teach-back/show-back teaching method for patient education
• Partners Consent Page
  Resources for writing consent forms in plain language

Shared Decision Making

• The Shared Decision Making Initiative at MGH
  Overview that includes a brief history, current efforts and collaborations, and how to get more information
• Six Steps to Shared Decision Making
  A guide for clinicians on ways to start the conversation, present options and information, elicit patient preferences, facilitate deliberation, and implement a decision
• How to “Prescribe” a Shared Decision Making Video or DVD through LMR
  Ordering information
• How to “Prescribe” a Shared Decision Making Video or DVD through Oncall
  Ordering information
• MGH Decision Aids
  List of Shared Decision Making videos and booklets available to MGH patients
• Shared Decision Making FAQs

SPOTLIGHT ON PRACTICE

“When a patient is seen in Occupational Therapy because of a new or chronic condition,  our clinicians recognize that the patient is often experiencing many concerns and worries. For example they might be in pain, on new medication, upset about missing work, anxious about being able to do things they need to do, worried about finances, etc. Therefore, when we prescribe a home program of exercises it's very important that we make sure they are able to do them correctly so they can get better and back to their daily activities as soon as possible. We use the "teach back" method where we show the patients how to do their exercises and then have them show the exercises back to us to ensure they are doing them correctly. This way, we can immediately give them feedback on their performance. We find this works much better than simply asking them if they have any questions on their exercises."

— Suzanne Curley, OTR/L, CHT

IN THE NEWS

Attributes of a Health Literate Organization—Institute of Medicine Discussion Paper, January 2012

Reducing healthcare costs by improving health literacy—Caring Headlines, November 17, 2011

Doctors Hone Message on Kidney Disease—The New York Times, August 21, 2011

Teach Back/Show Back: effective patient education tool—Caring Headlines, April 21, 2011

Tailoring Your Teaching to the Individual Needs of Each Patient—Caring Headlines, July 22, 2010

Patient Education Should Be a Shame Free Experience—Caring Headlines, April 15, 2010

HealthStream:
(internal access only)

• Improving Your Patient/Family Teaching Skills Through the Teach Back/Show Back Method

• MGH Carenotes

MGH Contacts:

The Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center

Collaborative Governance Patient Education Champions

Interpreter Services
(general questions only, no interpreter requests)

Maxwell V. Blum Cancer Resource Room

Links to MGH Resources (partial listing)

• MGH Patient Education Discharge Documents (internal access only) Library of post-discharge documents created by subject matter expert clinicians (updated at least biannually)  

• MGH Patient Education Television Channel
  MGH Channel 31 offers over 200 health education video titles for patients to view on-demand. To order a video, use patient’s bedside telephone and dial x4-5212.

• Care Notes/Drug Notes
  Find patient education and/or medication information by keyword search or alphabetical list; can be individualized with special instructions for the patient. 

• MGH Cancer Patient Education (CaPE)
  CaPE provides information on the different cancer types and cancer care; includes fact sheets on chemotherapy medications, tests and procedures, illustrations and lifestyle management.

Resources in other languages:

• LexiComp
  Offers medication information in 18 different languages
• MedlinePlus Multiple Languages
  Web site developed by two national institutes that provides patient education materials on a variety of health topics in 48 languages

External Resources:

• AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit
  Resources to improve medication adherence, make action plans, understand health literacy and use written health materials effectively
• Joint Commision White Paper:
  ‘What Did the Doctor Say?’ Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety
  Recommendations from The Joint Commission on improving health literacy to ensure patient safety
• CDC Health Literacy Page
  This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) resource provides information and tools to improve health literacy and public health

 

For many patients, communication may be inhibited by language differences, hearing, visual or cognitive impairments, health literacy, or other disabilities. The Joint Commission has new and revised requirements to improve patient-provider communication that will increase quality and safety through effective communication, cultural competence and patient- and family-centered care. Read more about the eight new and revised elements of performance...click here

PC.02.03.01: The hospital provides patient education and training based on each patient's needs and abilities

Magnet Recognition

The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) requires Magnet-designated organizations to track nationally-benchmarked nursing sensitive indicators (NSIs) to continually inform improvement efforts related enhance patient outcomes. Examples of NSIs include, but are not limited to: patient falls, hospital-acquired pressure ulcers, blood stream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and restraint use.

click here...

There are numerous terms and acronyms in healthcare that may be unfamiliar. Please click here to visit a Glossary of Terms that may be helpful. And please email any suggested additions.

This month's featured term: Health Literacy
The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.  — Healthy People 2010, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

If you have questions or suggestions related to the EED portal, please contact Georgia Peirce at (617) 724-9865 or via email at gwpeirce@partners.org.

updated 1/31/12