Excellence in Patient Education: Sarah Christensen, MA
MD Anderson Cancer Center
The Patient Education Practice Guidelines for Health Care Professionals were created after the Health Care Education Association (HCEA) identified the need for a concise, free of charge patient education overview for frontline health care providers. A health literacy grant was secured and used to fund an extensive literature search which resulted in over 10,000 citations. The search criteria focused on articles that contained components of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation (APIE) as part of the patient education process.
The citations were imported into Mendeley and divided among 27 volunteers to review each article’s title and abstract. This process reduced the references to 352 citations. Two reviewers then each read the full text article and completed a Qualtrics form to capture a dozen different criteria on every article. After completing the reviews, there were 232 robust citations remaining to support the Guidelines and all are included in the Guidelines for reference.
An initial draft of the Guidelines was reviewed by workgroup members and over 100 HCEA conference attendees. The final draft was reviewed by 42 frontline health care providers who completed a 6-question survey. All feedback was taken into consideration and incorporated if it supported the goal of creating an evidence-based concise guide.
The Guidelines were launched on the HCEA website in November 2020 and received 9,100 views in the first 6 months. Usage continues to be actively tracked and the Guidelines promoted widely. The Guidelines workgroup was led by co-chairs Sarah Christensen, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Carolyn Cutilli, Penn Medicine in addition to 25 volunteers from across the nation. The Guidelines can be accessed as a complete PDF or by each individual section at hcea-info.org.
Past Winners
2020: Marrow Masters Podcast Series: National Bone Marrow Transplant Link
2019: Together, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
2018: OncoLink, University of Pennsylvania
2017: Frankly Speaking About Cancer Clinical Trials, Cancer Support Community
2016: Mariela Gallo, MPH, CHES
2015: Family Cancer Retreat - Cancer Services of New Mexico
2014: Tina Papadakos, MA Ed and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center Clinical Trials Database Health Literacy Team
2013: Hastings Breast Cancer Support Group
2012: Be the Match: Super Sam vs. the Marrow Monsters
2011: Matthew Ballo, MD for the Road to Wellness
2010: Maximizing Your Patient Education Skills (MPES)
2009: Caregivers’ Guide to Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant, Myra Jacobs
2008: The Learning Center at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
2007: Diane Moyer, RN, MS, Ohio State University Medical Center, The Partnership for Health Care Education For Limited English Proficiency Patients
2007: Jean Hartford-Todd, CCLS, The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Medical Center
2003: Oncology Interactive Educational Series, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network
2001: Leah Mraz, BSN, RN, OCN, My Story: A Diary for People With Cancer, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey
2000: Marilyn McCubbin, PhD, RN, FAAn, Kelly Cotter, BA, Michael Dystra, BS Outlook: Life Beyond Childhood Cancer, University of Wisconsin Cancer Center
2000: M.D. Anderson Patient Education Office, University of Texas
2000: Carolyn Weaver, RN, MSN, AOCN, Ask the Expert Program, Fox Chase Cancer Center
2000: Tanya Smith, BA & Patient and Public Education Departmental Staff, How to Help Your Loved One Stop Smoking, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
1999: Amy Deshler, MSW, Kelli Fee-Schroeder, RN, and Kat Thieman, MBA, Setting Course to Reduce Your Risk of Cancer, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
1999: Dr. Joel Goldwein and Dr. Ivor Benjamin, OncoLink, University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center
1999: Mary Sumpmann, Nancy Goldstein and Staff, Patient Learning Center, University of Minnesota Cancer Center