2567 - Developing Highly Accessible Illustrated Guides for Radiation Consultation

Purpose/Objective(s): Clear communication of radiation concepts during the patient consultation can be difficult for physicians and patients alike- particularly when there is a native language discordance between physician and patient, a medical literacy gap, high volume of content, or a combination of these factors. Physicians often resort to rough drawings to explain anatomy or treatment concepts. For patients, the information may be difficult to understand or remember, provoking anxiety or distrust. Moreover, there is considerable evidence that retention with auditory teaching alone is not optimized. Providing an illustrated guide to utilize during consultation will provide visual prompts for key discussion subjects, ultimately promoting a “shared attention” model for patient learning, improving the patient understanding and elevating the physician’s delivery. Existing graphic narrative guides are in color and require non-standard printer paper, making them less accessible, and focus on the treatment experience alone rather than the overall disease process. We aim to create highly accessible illustrated guides (IGs) that can be utilized during Radiation Oncology clinic consultations.

Materials/Methods: Site-specific IGs that can be used during Radiation Consultation visits were created. They were purposefully made to optimize accessibility- utilizing high contrast images and large fonts, as well as minimal verbiage and technical terms. A black-and-white and formatted to standard paper size design was chosen, to allow for easy utilization in the clinic setting. The images were created digitally, using an apple pencil, adobe application, and iPad by a physician. We selected breast cancer, given the high disease prevalence, and CNS metastases/non-invasive stereotactic radiosurgery instrument SRS, highlighting intimidating topics such as head frame placement and wound dressing.

Results: 2 consultation IGs were created over 6 months. We created original images that facilitate conversation regarding the nature of radiation, the selection of areas to be treated, the experience of radiation, and disease characteristics. The content was developed and revised through site specific expert review at a single academic institution. Each IG is 10-12 pages long, featuring 13-15 original illustrations.

Conclusion: Creation of IGs to facilitate the Radiation Oncology consultation is feasible. While the process of development has been established with the initial two IGs, next steps will require further physician focus group driven feedback, as well as evaluation of patient qualitative feedback. Ultimately, the IGs value should be explored through usage analysis and surveys, with special emphasis on the consultation experience for diverse populations. There is interest in expanding the project for additional disease sites.