DocXplains is an online patient education resource developed by an experienced UK General Practitioner to improve understanding and engagement, and make health journeys easier for everyone!
A video-based resource, DocXplains explains common medical conditions using simple colourful line-drawings which unfold over short videos, with a jargon-free voiceover. In this way DocXplains aligns with the current trends in online consumption, of short-form content, video, and mobile internet use.
DocXplains is designed to overcome the challenges of limited health literacy. This way DocXplains improves engagement with health and healthcare teams, adherence to treatment plans, and finally outcomes. DocXplains is tailor-made to suit the needs of patients and the goals of the NHS.
DocXplains directly addresses needs laid out in the GP Forward View (2016) which observes that:
‘…patients want to be partners in their own care. They want the knowledge, skills and confidence to take more responsibility for their health and feel more in control of their outcomes. Channelling this growing patient appetite for services that help patients to help themselves unlocks both a better patient experience and a way to alleviate practice workload. No amount of reform of the existing system will work unless we also partner with our patients to manage demand more efficiently.’
DocXplains also fulfills the ninth of the GP Forward View’s ‘Ten High Impact Actions to release capacity’: 9. Support Self Care, which includes Prevention, Long-term conditions, and Acute episodes.
DocXplains speaks to that observation laid out in the NHS Five Year Forward View (2014) that,
Meeting these goals laid out in the GP Forward View (2016) and the NHS Five Year Forward View (2014) DocXplains takes a modern, audiovisual and above-all evidence-based approach to health education.
The videos are evidence-based using the latest guidance and research. All the information presented is in accordance with current best practice in the UK. The resource is fully referenced.
DocXplains videos are peer-reviewed by medical practitioners and academics to ensure the accuracy, quality and the safety of the information. They are also reviewed by a group of lay-reviewers to ensure the content is easy to understand and relevant.
DocXplains requires no additional time or effort on the part of clinicians in their day-to-day practice. Rather it provides clinicians with a trustworthy resource that they can direct their patients to, confident that the clinical message will be reinforced.
The videos are only about five minutes each. The short length combined with the simple and colourful line-drawing style create a format that is easy to approach, and easy to re-watch again and again.
The site will feature visual prompts to browse related content, increasing the likelihood of a viewer clicking on a second condition that they may suffer with, or are at risk of developing.
DocXplains does not require patient attendance at a specific time or place. DocXplains is easy to access from desk, tablet or mobile platforms. This allows patients to view the resource whenever or wherever they want, at home, on the move, while visiting family, or talking to friends.
‘Even people with long term conditions, who tend to be heavy users of the health service, are likely to spend less than 1% of their time in contact with health professionals. The rest of the time they, their carers and their families manage on their own.’
‘many…people wish to be more informed and involved with their own care, challenging the traditional divide between patients and professionals, and offering opportunities for better health through increased prevention and supported self-care.’
NHS Five Year Forward View
Free at the point of delivery, concise and therefore easy on limited data tariffs, using only simple diagrams with voice-over and no text; DocXplains overcomes socio-economic and literacy barriers to health education and empowerment.
DocXplains promotes health dialogue across communities and workplaces, improving awareness and recognition, while reducing the stigma, isolation, and social exclusion of long-term conditions. As videos for different conditions sit side-by-side, DocXplains promotes learning about conditions which don’t directly affect users themselves, but affect friends, family, and colleagues.
‘While the health service certainly can’t do everything that’s needed by itself, it can and should now become a more activist agent of health-related social change.’
‘We have not fully harnessed the renewable energy represented by patients and communities’
NHS Five Year Forward View
By delivering a thorough understanding, our videos help patients develop a sense of ownership of their own health and increased confidence in engaging with their healthcare and its providers.
‘…services need to support families, carers and communities;…promoting wellbeing and independence need to be the key outcomes of care;…patients, their families and carers are often ‘experts by experience’.’
NHS Five Year Forward View
DocXplains covers wide-ranging areas of disease, in a consistent and modern format. It surpasses current patient-education resources by eschewing traditional text-based formats which overlook the problems of health literacy. DocXplains improves on other resources by aligning with current trends amongst internet users toward short-form content, video, and mobile internet.
DocXplains is provided via yearly license purchased by the commissioners. With this license open access is provided to the population served by the commissioners, alongside support and materials for practices to promote and demonstrate the service to their population.
For further details regarding the evidence-base, the business-case, the yearly license, further asepcts of the service, and any other queries, please send an email to business@docxplains.com
