Reviews

Informing Patients: An Assessment of the Quality of Patient Information Materials

Angela Coulter, Vikki Entwistle, David Gilbert

King's Fund, £16.95, pp 216 

ISBN 1 8571 7214 0

Rating:

Pamphlets and, recently, audiotapes and videos have become a usual, visible, and promoted source of information for patients in general practice, in specialist consulting rooms, and in outpatient clinics. These information aids have been produced by a wide range of organisations in response to increasing patient expectations for factual or experiential information about investigations, illness and its causes, treatment options, support services, and likely outcomes. The quality, availability, acceptability, and effectiveness of information sources developed by authoritative bodies is commonly assumed.

Many clinicians are not familiar with the content or range of information aids provided for, distributed to, or accessed by their patients. However, clinicians are increasingly aware of the small but growing proportion of patients who obtain information from the internet. The for profit healthcare industry also provides a range of information aids for patients, some of which are not balanced in their presentation of treatment options.

The King's Fund has now produced an excellent manual examining what information materials patients prefer and how well currently available materials meet their needs. The manual makes useful and generally applicable recommendations for the development of good quality patient information sources. The first section summarises the uses, accessibility, and content of such materials, highlighting the limited work on quality control of their content.

In the next section material for 10 common health problems was assembled for analysisat least five examples for each health problem that met minimum criteria including reference to more than one treatment option and to treatment outcomes. Focus groups of five to nine patients with experience of the particular health problem were convened to review their information needs and the selected materials. In addition, two or more clinical or academic experts in each health area reviewed the selected materials and rated each for specific characteristics. The results of these reviews are summarised in 30 pages, and there is then an eight page chapter of recommendations. The last 150 pages contain detailed commentaries on the reviewed materials for each of the 10 health problems and a comprehensive list of references.

The book is an excellent guide to the process of development and appropriate content of patient information materials. Criteria for evaluating the quality of patient information materials are presented, and a comprehensive list of common questions asked by patients that should guide content is presented. Adopting the book's recommendations would greatly enhance the quality, value, and availability of useful patient information materials.

From January 1999, drugs dispensed in the European Union must be accompanied by printed information written for the patient. The patient information leaflet will reflect what the European Union considers that the "responsible" patient needs to know. The content of the leaflet will require input from the drug sponsor, the regulatory agency, consumers, and prescribers. This book should be a useful guide in the development of such leaflets.

Martin Tattersall, professor of cancer medicine. 

University of Sydney, Australia