Christ Community Medical Clinic is a faith-based, not-for-profit health-care organization that provides primary medical, dental, and obstetrical care to two of the most disadvantaged sections of Memphis, Tennessee. In order to extend access to high-quality online health information for poor and low-literacy patients, the CCMC Parting Shots project proposes to create a clinical process to provide its patients with individualized health information printed from selected websites before the patients leave the clinic. By promptly and efficiently providing access to information that is accurate, current, and appropriate to the patients' literacy, CCMC intends to give its low-income and minority patients better opportunities to understand and manage their own health, thus reducing health disparities in these Memphis communities.
The specific aims of the project are 1) to select low-literacy web-based patient education materials and organize them for quick location by linking them to an index web page for the clinic nursing staff; and 2) to integrate finding, printing, and giving """"""""parting shots"""""""" copies of the selected web materials into the consistent routine used by the nursing staff to conclude a clinic visit. In order to accomplish these aims, grant funds will be expended to assess current patient education materials and routines in the light of the functional health literacy of CCMC patients; to support monthly meetings of a task force reviewing and selecting Internet resources for literacy level, medical accuracy, and currency; to design, develop, and implement the web index page; to purchase and install printers; to train clinic nursing staff; to print the handouts; and to evaluate whether the project's goals are being accomplished. The results of this project will be disseminated to peers to show the value of integrating health information provided online by the National Library of Medicine and other high-quality health information providers into the community-based health-care setting and to encourage the use of high quality online information by health professionals and the public. We hope thereby to become a clinical model of excellent and appropriate patient communication.
