Go-to Sites for Patient Education Pamphlets?

[MedicalPartisan]

Hello All,

I was just scouring the net in search of a good resource for a patient (26 year old!) recently diagnosed with COPD who presented to the ED this morning. I came across a PDF with lots of great information and it got me thinking; is there a web site that hosts a variety of patient education pamphlets and such? I've never heard of such a source but it would be very nice to have a reputable place to go to download/print education for our patients.

This of course, would be for more informal situations. The patient today, for example, was here for an unrelated cause and informed me she was just recently diagnosed and was just wanting some information.

[vanilla bean]

Have you tried asking your coworkers if your facility has access to patient education materials? Nearly every facility I have worked at (or completed clinicals at) had their own pt education/pt teaching materials - either to be accessed on their computers and printed, or in preprinted hard copies. You may possibly be able to access a database of what you're looking for from your facility's intranet or the like.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

CDC.gov has some. It takes some scouting if I recall right, but they had a variety of FREE resources you could order. So it is worth it.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Go to site for patient education info is Medline Plus a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and NIH

Advance for Nurses has Patient + Caregiver handouts

[Gooselady, BSN, RN]

I know one for oncology patients receiving chemo Chemocare.com . We used this site to print out patient teaching materials much more than any other site, including Kramer (which I found to be difficult to use).

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

Medscape has some nice patient pamphlets.

[chare]

Have you tried asking your coworkers if your facility has access to patient education materials...

I agree. Every facility in which I have worked either prepared their own education materials, subscribed to an online service, or had a list of approved resources.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Be careful. You should only use materials that have been pre-approved by your organization. And they need to be documented in the patient's health care record. Otherwise, you are opening up a can of potential liablity that can trigger some serious consequences. Check with your clinical risk management folks if you need greater detail. It's hard to believe that something that is so 'helpful' could cause problems, but believe me -- it can and does.

Also - make sure that you are using copyright free materials whenever you access something from the 'Net'. That's a whole 'nother can of worms.