Patient Education and Health Literacy
Empowering patients and families to partner fully in their care
Blum Center News & Events
Learn about the latest news and events from the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center.
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Blum Center continues
to be valuable resource
throughout pandemic
For the safety of patients and staff, the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center closed in March due to the COVID -19 pandemic. By transitioning many Blum Center services to virtual platforms, we have been able to remain a vital resource for patients, families, and staff. The Blum Center continues to conduct searches of archives and databases to provide accurate, up-to-date resources for patients,families, and staff.
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Health Literacy Awareness:
Bringing Health Information
into Sharper Focus for
Patients and Staff
Autumn in New England is a kaleidoscope of beautiful, fall colors. Unfortunately, for many patients and families, accessing health information is like looking through a kaleidoscope of jumbled words and images — it makes no sense.
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Patient Education
in the Age of eCare
Along with changes to billing and clinical documentation, eCare brought changes to patient-education, as well. Patient-instruction materials are now available in eCare and can be incorporated into patients’ health records. Materials are searchable allowing caregivers to find the topic(s) they’re looking for more easily.
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Patient-education a Focus
on Access and Quality
This past year, The Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center continued to support the MGH community — patients, families, and staff — in numerous ways. Perhaps most notably was the creation of an MGH Patient Education website. A survey of Patient Education Committee champions helped identify certain barriers to effective patient-education, such as diffi culty accessing resources and too many options once materials were found. Blum Center staff, in collaboration with the Patient Education and Informatics committees designed an updated intranet site that’s easier to use.
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Helping patients
Help Themselves
Some patients get nervous before going to a doctor’s appointment. There’s actually a name for this anxiety; it’s called, ‘white-coat syndrome.’ But patients can ease their nerves by preparing ahead for appointments. Time spent with caregivers can go by quickly; preparing ahead allows patients to make the best use of that time by knowing what they want to discuss and having questions ready for their nurse, doctor, therapist, or other care-givers. All members of the healthcare team want appointments to be comfortable and relaxed so they can effectively address any issues and help promote good health.
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2019 Blum Center
Year in Review
Located at the heart of the MGH campus—only a few steps beyond the White Building main entrance—the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center serves as a comfortable, conveniently-located resource center where all are welcome.
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2018 Blum Center
Year in Review
2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the Maxwell & Eleanor Blum Patient and Family Learning Center at Mass General. The Blum family’s vision, generosity and extraordinary support over the past two decades has fueled our success and today the Blum Center stands as a state-of-the-art consumer health and patient education resource center committed to supporting the needs of the MGH community.
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