Assessment of an educational binder for newly diagnosed oncology patients

Abstract

Newly diagnosed oncology patients have many complex educational needs. These needs can be affected by stress, age, health literacy, and culture/ethnicity. It is important to take these factors into account when developing and evaluating patient health information. It is imperative that oncology patients are provided with quality health information to ensure that they are able to participate in shared decision making, thereby improving their outcomes. A new patient binder has been developed for patients seeking cancer care at the Benefis Sletten Cancer Institute. It is important that this educational tool be evaluated for readability, understandability, and actionability. The Patient Education Material Assessment Tool and the Flesch Reading Ease formula are two proven methods to evaluate patient health information. These tools will be used to evaluate the newly developed patient binder at the Sletten Cancer Institute. The results of the evaluation will be shared with the developers of the educational tool and leadership team. The continual evaluation of patient health information materials is essential to ensure that patients are receiving information that will meet their needs. The Clinical Nurse Leader can play an important role by acting as an educator, patient advocate, team leader, and expert clinician to ensure patients are receiving high quality patient health information.