Reader Questions

Creating material approval and review process

Flowcharts keep information on track

Question: "How do you monitor the quality of health information being disseminated to patients? Do you have a process in place for reviewing patient education materials from purveyors, publishers, and those created in-house? How do you track material that has already been approved and keep it up to date?"

Answer: To help ensure that the quality of all materials created in-house remains high, a few educators have been assigned to work with staff on patient education projects at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA. Before any work on the material begins, an educator meets with the staff member to go over a design interview questionnaire. The initial assessment ensures the material is on track. "We do this because we want to be consistent in our approach in order to make sure the quality of our materials is maintained," says Julie Baker, RNC, BSN, MN, an educator at Sacred Heart.

A flowchart outlines the process for creating patient education materials. Once a staff member identifies a need, he or she meets with the department manager to gain approval to proceed. If approval is granted, a meeting with educational services is scheduled so staff and the educator can go through the questionnaire to examine the need more closely. (See the flowchart on p. 69 and the questionnaire, inserted in this issue.)

To help the material take form, the staff member is asked such questions as the purpose for the material being developed, how the need was determined, whether similar materials are available, who the target audience is, and how the effectiveness of the material will be evaluated.

Once the questionnaire is completed, the staff member is given a copy of the flowchart so he or she knows exactly what to expect when designing the print material. For example, part of the process is that the copy must be reviewed by several experts to ensure the content is medically correct and that it meets patient education standards.

At the time of the interview, the staff member also receives guidelines to help in the writing process. Writing tips in the booklet include keeping copy at a sixth-grade reading level, focusing on the need to know information, avoiding medical jargon, and keeping sentences short and simple. "We want them to keep their reader in mind as they are writing and provide them with a variety of samples if they need them," says Baker.

The process for creating in-house material at Sacred Heart is promoted to staff as a service rather than a requirement. Staff know the educators are there to assist them with their project and to help them through the creation process as efficiently as possible.

Provide sheet for content experts

At Egleston-Scottish Rite Children’s Health Care System in Atlanta, the review process not only covers in-house materials but those obtained from vendors and publishers as well, says Kathy Ordelt, RN, CRRN, CPN, patient and family education coordinator. Each piece given to patients must meet certain criteria before it is distributed to the units. To ensure it does, a sheet was created for members of the patient education committee and content experts to use during the review process. They simply check off the various areas of compliance for the material they are reviewing.

Materials from outside sources are reviewed by members of the patient education committee and appropriate content experts such as a physician and dietitian. If the material is being developed in-house, there is a list of people who must have input into the project such as physicians, risk management, and creative services.

"Each person who does the content review is given a sheet they go through and return. We keep those sheets on file for at least a year after we launch the project in case questions should arise," says Ordelt. (For information on how Ordelt surveys patients to see if materials were beneficial, see story, p. 71.)

It’s a good idea to have a policy in place for the proposal and request process, agrees Candace Stiklorius, MSN, RNC, coordinator for the Patient & Family Education Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. When clinicians at this health care facility request materials, they are asked to see what is available from vendors first.

"If vendors answer the need, we will add the material to our inventory. If there is nothing available or it’s not applicable to our population, a proposal to develop our own is submitted to the patient education committee," says Stiklorius.

Advance practice nurses find or develop the materials, then take them to the appropriate physicians with a sign-off sheet. Specific criteria, such as accuracy and presentation, are used to evaluate the material. When a unit needs materials, they are ordered through the Patient Educa tion Center, which only supplies approved materials.

"Our policy states that the material must be approved by the patient education committee, clinical experts, and management before being added to the inventory," says Stiklorius. (For information on tracking inventory and keeping materials up to date, see p. 70.)

Sources

For more information on monitoring the quality of health information, contact:

• Julie Baker, RNC, BSN, MN, Educator, Sacred Heart Medical Center, Educational Services, P.O. Box 2555, Spokane, WA 99220. Telephone: (509) 742-7428. Fax: (509) 626-4475. E-mail: bakerj@shmc.org.

• Kathy Ordelt, RN, CRRN, CPN, Patient & Family Education Coordinator, Egleston-Scottish Rite Children’s Health Care System, 1001 Johnson Ferry Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30342. Telephone: (404) 250-2757. Fax: (404) 250-2255. E-mail: kordelt@srcmcl.org.

• Candace Stiklorius, MSN, RNC, Coordinator, Patient & Family Education Center, 1 Silverstein, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. Telephone: (215) 662-4899. Fax: (215) 662-4900. E-mail: stiklore@mail.med.upenn.edu.