In the spirit of gratitude, I want to share some of the tools and resources I’m thankful for these days. Life is busy, and we’re swimming in information, so it can be hard to know what to grab.
These are about patient education, patient communication, health literacy, and more. And they’re all free (some ask for email signup).
I’m sharing these hoping you might find something helpful. As a researcher, I might be a bit heavy on research-y things. (There’s no sponcon here and I’m not affiliated with any of them. These are resources I actually use.)
- Health literacy! You know literacy’s my jam. I’m thrilled we have the Journal of Health Literacy Research & Practice JHLRP. Why? Because it’s holding high methodological standards while addressing the somewhat messy complexity of health literacy. AND it encourages practitioners and early-career researchers to submit with a helpful [i.e. not punitive] review process. It’s “a mission-driven endeavor” with an expansive outlook.
- Speaking of health literacy, here’s Helen Osborne’s Health Literacy Out Loud podcast. She sits smart people down and gets them talking! About language and health!
- Here is a health literacy page in the ‘clear communication’ section of the NIH. It begins with some beautiful language: “Communication between and among human beings is complex. It occurs at many levels simultaneously.”
- Flying my geek flag here: the NAM discussion papers. Seriously. I appreciate them for helping me wrap my head around multiple views on some complex issues–in a short amount of time. And they give me new people to follow on twitter. Here’s one on clinician well-being, released by the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience.
- Speaking of clinician well-being, here’s a set of free webinars on compassion in healthcare – encouraging providers to show compassion for self and others.
- Canadians. Our neighbors to the north have well-known health programs, as well as some hard-working researchers who won’t let Canada’s health system rest on its laurels. Go get your comparative analyses of how nations tackle health inequalities, or your go-to text for SDOH. They also give a timely reminder that feel-good charitable giving during the holidays is not the solution that ‘takes care of’ the problem of food insecurity.
- The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. After hearing Director Eliseo Perez-Stable speak at a conference, I believe he walks his talk. Lots of resources here, heavy on the research and funding side.
- And while we’re talking about minority health and health disparities this TEDMed talk from Dorothy Roberts.
- Productivity tools here. Where would I be without journals’ table of content alerts? You’re trying to keep current but you don’t have time to actually crack open a journal to scan the latest research. Sign up for your favorite journal’s table of content alerts (Taylor & Francis, SAGE, Health Affairs) et voila. It usually means setting up a free account, but it gets the goods to your inbox or phone. Just in case you weren’t doing this already.
- Also productivity: Weekly newsletters. Sounds so obvious, but these are nice for the multimodality. Whether you like reading, or viewing, or podcasts, the better newsletters have you covered. Sometimes there are alerts for free events in the bigger organizations. Unsurprisingly, the NASEM have some, as do the CDC and Kaiser. Don’t forget your alma mater; there are good monthlies from medical schools and schools of public health. And hey, how about ours? Sign up below!
- Fun tool: here’s a site that lets you write, save and share text in a way that looks like a text conversation on a phone. You could use this to post signs, directions, or even answer FAQs at your office.
- I wouldn’t say it’s fun, but it might make you laugh: lists of commonly confused medical terms. There’s several out there: here’s one, and here’s another. Look up the terms you use most frequently, and see what your patients might be remembering instead.
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