Success Stories - Study Outcomes

Testimonials | Study Outcomes

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Careguide is evidence-based patient education. Health care professionals rightly insist on evidence-based content. When that content will go on line, they know that that the computer presentation must be consumer-tested. The next step is to realize that instructional design, even when the presentation is on paper, must also be evidence-based. Careguide has:
(1) used evidence from four fields of research for its instructional design and then
(2) collected evidence that its instructions reduce readmissions, ER use and length of stay.

Evidence for the inputs. Careguide relies on 4 bodies of research for materials development:

Health Literacy. There is increasing awareness of the need for "Plain Language."
Semiotics. Many health care professionals are not aware of the evidence as to which graphic elements and illustration styles communicate best to low-literacy populations.
Linguistic Pragmatics. This area of research examines the gap between what a writer intends to say and what the reader perceives.
Ethnography. Careguide does original ethnographic research on patients. Careguide researchers visit patients in their homes to observe them attempting to carry out self care. Careguide's 5-year database, representing thousands of hours, details patterns of misunderstanding and difficulties patients have following typical selfcare instructions.

Evidence in the outcomes. Careguide has tested health care professionals' instructions against its own evidence-based instructional design in controlled studies. The clinical content of the Control Group's instructions is the same as the Careguide Group's. The only difference is the instructional design. These studies are not surveys or focus groups of patient opinion, but actual demonstrations of quality improvements. Careguide instructions produce statistically significant results: reduced readmissions, ER visits and length of stay.

Measuring the quality of patient education by outcomes-by actual reduced utilization-is a radical new concept in health care. Most health care professionals have believed that different approaches to patient education could not be measured by outcomes: Hospitals exempted comparisons of patient education methods from IRB approvals. Today, the Disease Management industry is struggling to demonstrate that its approach to supporting self management actually reduces utilization.

The Careguide studies establish that it is

possible to measure the quality of patient education by outcomes and that
evidence-based patient education produces dramatically improved outcomes.