Addressing Current Deficits in Patient Education Materials Through Crowdsourcing

Area of Science:

• Health Literacy
• Patient Education
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Patient education materials are frequently difficult for patients to comprehend.
• Improving the understandability of health information is crucial for patient engagement and outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To leverage crowdsourcing to enhance patient education materials within an institution.
• To increase organizational health literacy through improved patient communication.

Main Methods:

• A six-phase quality improvement project was conducted.
• Materials were evaluated, redesigned, and then assessed for understandability via crowdsourcing.
• Feedback was incorporated to refine materials for optimal readability and length.

Main Results:

• Existing breast-related patient education materials lacked readability at multiple levels.
• Newly developed implant-based breast reconstruction materials were rated as highly understandable by over 90% of crowdsourcing participants.
• The crowdsourcing process was rapid, cost-effective ($9), and resulted in materials meeting recommended readability and length standards.

Conclusions:

• Crowdsourcing offers an efficient method for clinicians to gather extensive feedback for improving patient education.
• This approach effectively enhances organizational health literacy by making health information more accessible.