Patient Education Materials

Purpose

To establish procedures for providing clinically accurate, useful, easy-to-read, and fully accessible education materials regarding health maintenance or improvement to patients and their families, caregivers, or designees.

Types of Patient Education Materials

Vendor Materials

For purposes of this policy, Vendor Materials means educational materials purchased by UAMS and provided to patients, caregivers, or designees to facilitate health maintenance or improvement. May include print materials, videos or other content-based teaching tools.

UAMS Custom Materials

For purposes of this policy, UAMS Custom Materials means educational materials developed by UAMS staff and provided to patients, caregivers or designees to facilitate health maintenance or improvement. May include print materials, videos or other content-based teaching tools. Excludes web content authored and managed by UAMS Office of Marketing and Communications. Excludes materials developed for limited use by specified participants in an IRB-approved research study.

The Policy

All Vendor and UAMS Custom Materials must be vetted, approved, and meet UAMS digital accessibility standards prior to purchase, creation, or distribution. Approved materials must be stored in shared locations (e.g., EMR, Clinical Desktop, or designated network folders) for the benefit of all UAMS patients and staff.

Vetting and Approval

Staff will only provide patients, families, caregivers, or designees with educational materials from designated storage areas that have been approved by the appropriate campus entities

• Materials created prior to 2022: CHL will coordinate clinical review of a minimum of 10 documents per month until all have been reviewed. Once reviewed, documents will be edited for plain language and placed on a 3-year review cycle.
• Materials created 2022 and after: Must be reviewed by CHL and at least 1 clinical reviewer every 3 years.— these bullets need more context
• If approved, CHL will forward its recommendation to the Decision Support Committee. – this applies to digital items only.

Vendor Materials

• The requestor must submit the request to the Center for Health Literacy (CHL) (healthliteracy@uams.edu) prior to purchase.
• The CHL will work with the requestor to ensure no existing resource addresses the needed patient education.
• If approved, CHL will forward its recommendation to the Decision Support Committee.

UAMS Custom Materials

• New materials must be approved prior to use by CHL and a minimum of 2 clinical reviewers. CHL will seek review from the Office of Marketing and Communications (Creative Services) and the Office of Translation and Interpreting Services (TIS, Spanish language documents only) and the Office of Patient Experience.
• Materials created prior to 2022: CHL will coordinate clinical review of a minimum of 10 documents per month until all have been reviewed. Once reviewed, documents will be edited for plain language and placed on a 3-year review cycle.
• Materials created 2022 and after: Must be reviewed by CHL and at least 1 clinical reviewer every 3 years.

File Storage and Retrieval

Staff will store approved materials in designated locations only, so all UAMS staff may benefit from access to the materials. No materials, digital nor paper, will be stored in personal files. No materials will be stored in digital departmental files (e.g. shared network folders other than the patient education folder, Box accounts).

Vendor Materials

Links within the electronic medical record (EMR) system or Clinical Desktop

UAMS Custom Materials

• Shared network drive (“H drive”): \\hosp1serv1\common\patient_education
• Links within electronic medical record (EMR) system or Clinical Desktop

Departmental storage of paper materials is discouraged as it facilitates use of outdated materials. If paper storage is critical to a clinical unit’s workflow, e-mail healthliteracy@uams.edu to establish a plan for regular review.

Policy Information

Number: PS 2.16
Policy Title: Patient Education Materials
UAMS Policies & Procedures

Center for Health Literacy

Website
Phone: 501-686-2595
Email: healthliteracy@uams.edu