Mayo Clinic is making their library of patient education resources available to small medical practices throughout the U.S. This is being done through an agreement with Drchrono an EHR company formed in 2009.
Patient education materials range from pamphlets to DVDs, and the collection includes nearly 3,000 separate pieces all developed by Mayo Clinic. The information helps patients understand medical tests, surgical procedures, diseases and conditions, self-care, preventive health and wellness.
The resources are geared toward patients with specific needs and offer more in-depth rather than the general health information often found on consumer websites. Drchrono has converted the materials into electronic formats for physicians to give to their patients where providers will pay Drchrono for access.
Mayo’s Clinic’s resources are one-of-a-kind, developed through a rigorous process led by Mayo physicians. First, physicians identify the patient’s need for an educational resource and then develop a clinical plan on how the resource should be used.
For each piece of information, a team comprised of a physician or physicians from various medical specialties, clinical providers, a patient educator, and a professional writer apply their perspectives to create content that represents Mayo’s clinical practice. Mayo Clinic physicians and health specialists from areas such as dietetics, nursing and physical therapy review the material for accuracy.
Adding more than 2,600 electronic documents and 300 videos provides another dimension to the Drchrono offering. Physicians have access to the Mayo Clinic content in real-time through iPads, iPhones, and the internet. The system pulls a list of relevant documents and then the physicians can select the material to digitally distribute to the patient. The patient can view the information anytime or anyplace via an iPhone, iPad, Android device, or on the Web.
According to Steven Smith M.D. Medical Director for Patient Education at Mayo, “The material must be understood the first time it is read and must meet the needs of the reader. Our methodology considers every aspect of content development that leads to comprehension and knowledge retention.”
Materials are created for adults, young adults, parents, teens, and children in English, Arabic, Somali, and Spanish and have won numerous awards. Topics range from common to obscure medical conditions.
For more information, go to www.mayoclinic.org.