Easy-to-Read Patient Education Materials in MedlinePlus

Are you looking for patient education materials that are easy-to-read?
Medical concepts and language are very complex. People need easily understandable health information regardless of age, background or reading level. Try the following free sources :

MedlinePlus Easy-To-Read (National Library of Medicine) includes patient education handouts, many in Spanish as well as English.

MedlinePlus Interactive Tutorials
The Patient Education Institute offers a series of interactive tutorials that can be set to run for patients. Viewers can “page” through it if they are comfortable with computers, or it can run by itself. The tutorial will READ the content to the patient, so even if they don't read (or don't like to), they can still take in the info by hearing it. This is also great for people for whom English is not their first language. Using animated graphics each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language. There's also a printable 1-page text summary that can be used as a handout.

Find additional consumer health and patient education resources here.

MDConsult and ADAM Patient Education Handouts

With ADAM Quicksheets going away in July, clinicians will be delighted (and relieved) to know that MDConsult contains the same high-quality ADAM patient-education handouts. You’ll recognize the same style of illustrations and content.

When you sign up for an MDConsult Personalized Account, you’ll be able to customize the Patient Education Handouts. Clicking on the following link for generic access to MDConsult (no need to sign in for generic access). Sign in or Create an account to customize handouts.

New to MDConsult? If generic access is via IP, why should I register?

We recommend that you register for a Personal Login if:
* You want to access MDConsult outside Affinity (remote access at home, at the coffee shop, on vacation, etc. …)
* You want to personalize the Patient Handouts
* You want to use the PDA Resources

A step-by-step, detailed guide with screen shots on How to Register for MDConsult is available online.

Request an MDConsult User’s Guide from Library Services at :

Michele Matucheski at MMC Library (3-0340)
Margo Lambert at STE Library (8-2324)

Library Staff is also willing to give you a personalized tour of MDConsult.
Just give us a call. We’re here to help!

Patient Education in Hmong

Patient Education materials in Hmong are more readily available than just a year ago. Below are some collections you may find helpful in caring for Hmong patients and their families.

MEDLINEPlus : Health Information in Hmong - from The National Library of Medicine. Provides handouts in both English and Hmong, so you know what you are giving our Hmong patients. BEST BET!

Asian Pacific Islander Cancer Education Materials - Hmong

From The American Cancer Society and The Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART)Provides links for education materials that have been screened for medical accuracy and cultural relevance.

Emergency and Community Health Outreach (ECHO) – Hmong

Provides videos (viewable online) on emergency and community health topics.

Hmong Health Website Provides access to health information for Hmong people and those who provide health, education and social services to the Hmong community. Categories of topics include family health, healthy living, traditional healing, talking with health providers, and more. Based in Wausau, WI.

Pediatric Health Information : Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

Links to bilingual articles in Hmong and other languages.

Refugee Health Information Network (RHIN) - Hmong

SPIRAL – Selected Patient Information in Asian Languages – Hmong - From Tufts University

AHS Offers A.D.A.M. A-Z Health Library in Spanish

by Maria Myers, Affinity Web Development Manager Freelancer

Generous grants from the St. Elizabeth Hospital Community Foundation and the Mercy Health Foundation will help Affinity’s health providers better communicate with our Spanish-speaking customers. Affinity Health System now offers our online ADAM A-Z Health Library in Spanish. The St. Elizabeth Hospital Community Foundation grant supports Spanish language QuickSheets for internal provider use. The Mercy Health Foundation grant supports the public Internet version of our ADAM A-Z Health Library.

You may view or use the Spanish version of the A-Z Health Library in several ways.

To view the A-Z Health Library on the web, go to affinityhealth.org click Health Resources, and select the library. Click on any document and in the navigation on the right select “Read Spanish version” link. You may select the same link to change the language back to English.



Also, you may select the A-Z Health Library Spanish from the Health Resources Drop down or on the left navigation in the Health Resources section, as shown below.



To get to QuickSheets use Affinity’s intranet search “QuickSheets”. QuickSheets is a great tool that allows providers to put their name and contract information at the top of their patients’ reference. From QuickSheets start page, you can quickly and easily change articles already in your favorites list to Spanish simply by clicking the Sp icon as shown below:


If you’re selecting a new QuickSheets article you can view it in Spanish by selecting the print in Spanish icon. The article will not print immediately but will appear in Spanish, formatted for printing. You need to click print from the File Menu to make the document print.


Any questions or comments regarding the Spanish Health Library may be directed to Maria Myers at 720-1747 or mmyers@affinityhealth.org