GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MICROMEDEX, a part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), the leader in information solutions for healthcare and scientific professionals, and Blausen Medical Inc., a global resource for scientific visualization, are partnering to help clinicians communicate with health illiterate patients. 90 million Americans suffer from health illiteracy according to the Institution of Medicine report titled "Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion." The report reveals illiterate patients may potentially cause a negative impact on the current initiatives to reform the healthcare system and reduce costs.
Health literacy is the ability for an individual to obtain, process and understand basic information and services related to health decisions. Literacy goes beyond reading skills; it also includes writing, listening, speaking, arithmetic, and conceptual thought. The IOM report sites most patients can only remember about half of the information given to them verbally by a physician. Patients with literacy problems may struggle even further. In addition, IOM suggests communication breakdown between patient and clinician may cause 10% of all adverse drug events.
"The integration of our visual imagery into the existing textual components offered by MICROMEDEX make for a compelling series of products that are unparalleled in this market," said Bruce Blausen, president of Blausen Medical, Inc.
MICROMEDEX offers hospitals the CareNotes(R) System, which includes 5,000 patient education documents for clinician to communication with patients. These unbiased, low-literacy patient education documents help patients better understand their condition and moves them towards safer and healthier outcomes. To further help clinicians educate their patients, MICROMEDEX will replace the black and white images currently in CareNotes with 450 new 3-D, four-color images from Blausen. The detailed images in the CareNotes documents will help patients to better understand their health issues. As patients better understand their issues, they follow caregiver instructions, ask more questions and participate more in their care program.
"Now a patient can see a comparison of a normal lung airway and an inflamed airway in the asthma document. Visually showing this level of detail will better help the patient understand his/her condition," said Jeff Reihl, executive vice president for Thomson MICROMEDEX. "The images supplied by Blausen are an impressive addition to the already strong CareNotes patient education documents."
For detailed information about CareNotes or to view an example of the new graphics, visit http://www.micromedex.com/.
About The Thomson Corporation and Thomson MICROMEDEX
With 2003 revenues of $7.6 billion, The Thomson Corporation (http://www.thomson.com/) is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software applications and tools to more than 20 million users in the fields of scientific research and healthcare, law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC). Thomson healthcare information solutions can be found at http://www.thomson.com/healthcare, and include Thomson American Health Consultants, an innovator of medical education programs and the largest publisher of health care newsletters in the world; Gardiner Caldwell, one of the world's largest medical communication agencies; Physicians World, a leader in advanced medical education programs for over 30 years; MICROMEDEX, the foremost provider of trusted medical information, enabling clinicians to access answers and alerts to prevent adverse events and promote best clinical practices; and PDR, The Physician's Desk Reference, the drug information standard for 57 years that annually reaches 500,000 practicing physicians across the United States.
About Blausen Medical Communications
Blausen Medical Communications (BMC), Houston, is creator of one of the world's largest libraries of medical and scientific three-dimensional animations and stills, including the award winning Consumer Medical Atlas. Ranked as a top medical animation company, BMC's mission -- to deliver digital content solutions that illustrate complex concepts to users in an educational, accurate and entertaining manner -- reflect the creative blend of medical illustration, education, art, and technology. Founded in 1991 by Bruce Blausen, a medical illustrator, BMC's clients include hospitals, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, publishing companies, and others. Additional information is available at http://www.blausen.com/.
MICROMEDEXCONTACT: Jackie Kirschman, Sr. Corporate Communications Manager ofMICROMEDEX, +1-303-486-6535, jackie.kirschman@thomson.com
Web site: http://www.thomson.com/
Web site: http://www.blausen.com/
Web site: http://www.micromedex.com/
