Tablet-Based Patient Education Regarding Human Papillomavirus Vaccination in Colposcopy Clinic

The aim of this study was to use an electronic tablet-based education module to increase patient knowledge about human papillomavirus (HPV).

Patients presenting to an academic colposcopy clinic were first queried as to whether they had been infected with HPV. A quality improvement project was then conducted using a 4-question pretest assessing baseline knowledge about HPV and cancer, followed by a tablet-based education module and a 5-question posttest.

Between June 2017 and January 2018, 119 patients participated in the tablet education. At their initial visit, only 50 (42.0%) of patients were aware that they had an HPV infection; however, medical records revealed that 74 women (62.2%) were presenting with a documented HPV infection. After the tablet education, 95% of women identified cervical cancer as a problem that can be caused by HPV, as compared with 88.2% in the pretest (p = .046). Knowledge of head and neck cancer as a disease that can be caused by HPV increased from 10.9% to 80.7% (p < .001). More patients answered that they "definitely" or "probably" would consider the vaccine for a child in their family: 108 (95.6%) pretest vs. 112 (99.1%) posttest (p = .046). The activities were ranked as "extremely" or "very" helpful by 93.3% of patients.

Patients presenting to colposcopy clinic are not well educated regarding the connection between an abnormal Pap test, HPV infection, and certain cancers. Tablet-based education improves patient knowledge of HPV-associated cancers in an outpatient clinic setting.