Design:

1. Review of current literature and strategies for effective patient education.
2. Exemplify a patient educational video on minimally invasive endometriosis surgery with narrated surgical footage.

Setting: Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information to inform health-related decisions and actions. Oftentimes, patients feel that their doctor does not supply them with adequate information. Therefore, patients turn to online resources and social media, which are often not at an appropriate understanding level and lack direct physician involvement. Studies have found that using effective patient educational videos can improve patient understanding, satisfaction, and reduce physician consent time.

Patients or Participants: A combination of medical illustrations, surgical photos, and surgical video footage were used to describe endometriotic implants and their common locations as well as demonstrate different techniques used for endometriosis surgery.

Interventions: All patient education materials, including videos, should be approached with the following key strategies:

1. Provide information at the 5th-6th grade level using simple words and short sentences with a focused scope
2. Incorporate education at every patient interaction
3. Use alternatives to written information such as audio or video with basic visual aids
4. Assess and reassess patient understanding and beliefs
5. Involve a patient educator in the development of materials

Measurements and Main Results: The aforementioned strategies were implemented in the development of a patient educational video focusing on surgery for endometriosis.

Conclusion: Creation of patient-centered educational materials is essential to patient understanding and participation in decision-making for complex gynecologic conditions and surgical management, including endometriosis.