Evidence searches for patient information resources.
The suggested time to allocate to this search is 3 to 6 hours.
Planning
You should ask the requester exactly what is needed and what level is needed. For example, high end evidence or basic information.
The requester may need to manage their patient’s expectations. If it is appropriate for your role as a patient information specialist, and/or with their clinician's consent, speak to the patient to discuss what they would like.
Check if your Trust has guidelines for writing for patients, including an approval process for patient information.
If the request is about providing information on medication, check with your Trust procedure on handling medicines information queries, if you have one, as some Trusts will direct these straight to Medicines Management (or they will carry out a search too).
Execution
Are there similar leaflets produced by other Trusts?
Look for other Trust websites that contain information about the given procedure/treatment/condition. You should search the following.
Google
You should try the below.
- Include “NHS Trust” in your search terms and/or use geographic limits and/or limit to sites with “…nhs.uk” URLs using the limits "site:nhs.uk" or "inurl:nhs".
- See advanced Google search within For All Evidence Searches for more information.
- A Bing search can bring useful videos to light. However, you should bear in mind copyright/permissions restrictions if copying or adapting others’ work.
The NHS website
You should look at:
- the NHS public website
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidance (and in particular NICE Guideline [NG197] “Shared decision making” if the requester wants to communicate risks/benefits of treatment)
- the UK Health Security Agency website
Patient information websites
You should search websites that provide patient information. For example, Patient (formerly known as patient.info) or clinical decision support tools, including the following.
- British Medical Journal (BMJ) Best Practice has a “Patient Leaflet” library.
- UpToDate has patient information tabs (“basics” and “beyond the basics”) that are pitched at the right level.
- ClinicalKey also features useful “patient education” sections.
Charity websites
You should look at charities related to specific conditions (like the British Heart Foundation) and voluntary sector organisations. They are a good source of reliable information, but are sometimes slightly too detailed for a basic patient information leaflet.
Patient experience websites
You should consider the use of patient experience websites, including:
- The Patient Experience Library
- Healthtalk
You should also consider the below.
- Are there any websites from good quality, evidence-based sources that you can add as a useful link for the patient?
- Any films they can watch? Are there any useful apps they could download to help manage their health condition?
- Think also about signposting the patient to relevant, verified, social media accounts.
Results
You should plan your first draft. If the leaflet is in a question/answer format (recommended), can you list the questions? This will help order the information that you need to include in a logical manner.
Write the first draft of the leaflet. Use language very carefully and try one or more of these resources to help write.
Plain English Campaign
The Plain English Campaign has good tips about how to write in plain English. For the layout, leave plenty of white space, use bullet points, avoid repetition, logically order information. Do not forget to include risks and benefits.
Health Education England’s (HEEs) Health literacy ‘how to’ guide includes information on how to design and layout written information for patients.
Patient Information Forum (PIF)
A Patient Information Forum (PIF) survey revealed strong support for target reading age of 9 to11 years old for health information.
PIF provides guidance on how to use plain language to produce health literacy friendly information, as well as a guide for translating health information in order to provide practical support to non-English speakers’ patients.
NHS England
HEE’s health literacy ‘how to’ guide includes information on how to design and layout written information for patients.
The NHS website
The NHS website offers health information in other languages.
The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals website have also compiled a list of patient leaflets in foreign languages arranged by alphabetical order.
Easy Health
Easy Health offers accessible health information with simple words, clear pictures and films.
You should also test if your leaflet is easy to read using a tool such as the Hemingway Editor.
Send your draft to your requester and add a list of resources that the information came from (if applicable). You should be prepared for re-drafts and updates.
Examples
Example 1
Request forwarded to librarian, who asked for some clarification
Dear
Your email was forwarded to me - I can certainly have a look for materials to help you out with this.
Could you send me a few more details- are you looking for resources to share with your patients as well as literature to inform yourself? I can find some on both subjects that you should be able to put into a patient leaflet.
Best wishes…
Example 2
Clarification received from requester
Dear …
Thank you so much for picking up on this. In our experience children between about 12 months of age to about 4 to 5 years can get quite anxious coming up to vaccination and I wondered if there is an information leaflet I can make available to parents ahead of vaccination.
I guess also the behaviour of doctor/nurse may well be influential on how children behave. Interestingly one of our nurses has developed quite a rapid, matter of fact, flow of patter that continues right up to the point (and after) the needles goes in! It was almost like a conjurer's distraction rather than 'reasoning and explaining ' to the child seemed to work for her…
So information for family/patient and also for clinician to improve our technique…
Example 3
Response from librarian
Dear…
Please see attached for your evidence search.
As well as a couple of general guidelines, I’ve tried to add resources that you can pick and choose relevant points from to make your own leaflet, and they’re all free, so you can share them staff/parents without any access issues.
I hope you find this helpful, please let me know if you need anything else.
Best wishes…
Report compiled by librarian.
Page last reviewed: 4 August 2023
Next review due: 4 August 2024