Here are my tips for patient education:
Leaflets:1. ACOG leaflets – expensive, but they are “the standard”, and they look nice, fit into most purses, can be conveniently kept in wall hangers even in small examination rooms…they are just the best.
2. Significantly less expensive than the ACOG leaflets: Subscription to “MD-Consult”, which is only $220 a year over the net. This service not only gives you a large amount of textbooks, journals and pharmaceutical and pharmacological information, but, and this is the great thing that alone makes it worth the annual subscription, it gives you access to about 3000 (!) patient instructions, very well written, a good number also in Spanish. Often they have a short and long version of the same topic. I print out the instructions leaflets, copy them and keep them organized in my drawer, so that I can hand them to patients as needed - without having to log on and print them out each time. Printouts can be personalized with your name and office data. If you would purchase the “CRS Patient Advisor” on floppy disks or CD, which is what is included in MD Consult, it would cost you about $1000-1200. MD Consult includes not only the “Patient Advisor” but also info leaflets published by 2 more companies all for a lower price than you would have had to pay for the “Patient Advisor”.
3. Easiest, cheapest solution, but it feels somewhat dated: a book with CD by Miller, McEvers, Griffith: “Instructions for obstetrical and gynecological patients”, now in its third edition, at about $50-60. You are specifically allowed to copy all pages and hand them to your patients, the book comes with a CD that you can load onto your computer and that lets you easily print out all 200 plus patient instruction leaflets. The book also includes diets and illustrations. A steal. Has proven to be extremely cost effective, but may be outdated by now, since it does not contain the newest developments in e.g. HRT, contraception etc. Still good for the standard surgeries and things that have not changed such as ectopics.
4. My preferred solution - Write your own leaflets and information material! You will have tailored and customized information from you and your practice. And, your patients will first hear it from you and then read the same information on a paper at home (hopefully). This achieves maximum retention and effect. This also eliminates mixed messages or confusion when you say one thing and a website recommends another thing. I recommend not writing leaflets by a list or on demand, let's say, in response to the thought, "well, what leaflets might I need?" and then sit down and write them...NO, do not do that. I recommend a different approach: as soon as you realize that you are explaining something several times, as soon as you find yourself talking about something repetitively, let's say three times or more, you simply write down exactly what you just said. You use spoken language, simple terms. Voila, your leaflet is done. Then continue to correct and expand it with time, as the additional questions and ideas arise.
5. "The Female Patient" magazine frequently has good information leaflets in the back that you can copy and distribute to your patients.
Practice Newsletter
Writing down what you think and say to your patients is also the best way to write a practice newsletter. Write down the things you explain to your patients, or the things you would love to explain, but do not have the time and mail them out or email them out every so often. Nobody says that a practice newsletter has to come out every three months. Write them and mail them as the issues arise. For example in late 2006 it was HPV, and the answers to the questions " Do I need an HPV test? Do you recommend the HPV vaccine?"
Post this information on your website. A good place to keep the original files or master files is in "Google Docs and Spreadsheets". This way you can pull them up anytime, work on them and store them.
Book recommendations
Specifically for pregnancy:I recommend “The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy” by Vicki Iovine to all my patients, and at one time have even given it out for free to all new prenatal patients. It is written by a mother of four, smart, witty, self-deprecating and straightforward – it really delivers what the title promises. The book is so entertaining that it reads like a novel and patients learn while laughing. Paperback, 288 pages, published by Pocket Books, ISBN 0671524313, around $12.
If you call the “special sales division” of the publisher and order about 25 books or more, you get 40% off. Many people know this book, but not all. It deserves more attention than the standard bestseller “What to expect..” which more often then not leaves patients concerned about complications and is more tedious to read. I do not recommend "What to expect..." and, by the way, one of the friends and relatives will give it to the expecting mother anyway.
I also recommend the book by Curtis and Schuler: "Your Pregnancy Week by Week", a great book that is easy to read since you only have to digest the material for one week. Has excellent drawings that help you understand how the baby looks, how large it is. Also contains useful tips for dads, such as "bring flowers without reason" or "help with housework". DaCapo Press / Lifelong Books, paperback, 15.95
My book recommendation for the time after pregnancy:"The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer", Paperback, by Harvey Karp
"Ever since I had my baby" by Roger Goldberg, a book that goes into the details of the consequences for your body of giving birth - from Roger Goldberg, MD, who is a very smart, well writing and accomplished urogynecologist from the Continence Center in Evanston, IL, and with whom I had the honor of training at BIDMC in Boston.
Websites I recommend to my patients:
An excellent educational tool is to refer patients to good websites. They search on the net anyway, so tell them which sites are reliable and keep them away from the Quack and the snake oil sites. Here are the websites I refer my patients to:
http://medlineplus.gov/ MedLinePlus is the consumer health portal of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Very extensive, very good.
http://patients.uptodate.com/index.asp Uptodate patient information is an outstanding and very informative website published by doctors of Harvard Medical School.
http://www.acog.org/, the website of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. They have excellent “patient information leaflets” on all topics in Women’s Health.
http://www.4woman.gov/, the government’s website for women’s health, surprisingly good, considering that it is presented by the government.
http://www.familydoctor.org/ , the website of the Association of Family Doctors, covers all areas of medicine and explains issues very well and in plain English, in an easy to understand style
http://www.noah-health.org/. NOAH is the “New York Online Access to Health” database, which is big and bold, like so many “New York” things. Very extensive, uptodate and well done. Most important – it comes in Spanish too!
http://www.hormone.org/
http://www.menopause.org/, the website of the North American Menopause society
http://www.mayoclinic.com/, the website of the famous and excellent Mayo Clinic
http://www.fda.gov/
http://www.cdc.gov/. The website of the Center for Disease Control has great information about infections such as human papilloma virus (HPV), Herpes, HIV, travel medicine and much more
www.Managingcontraception.com. This is the website that offers the best and most accurate information on contraception. You can even download a booklet "Managing Contraception" for free. They also have a very good book on perimenopause: "The Midlife Bible" by Dr. Goodman, $17
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/ NCCAM is the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes for Health, a great starting point for alternative medicine questions and information
Last, not least:www.quackwatch.org/ the site that keeps the web honest. Reports on all kinds of unscientific quackery on the Internet. Should a diagnostic method or treatment sound unfamiliar or too good to be true, look it up on this website.
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