The primary purpose of the Health Education Specialist is to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate educational activities and programs for patients and their family members related to research in the Decision Support Lab and Decision Science Core Resource. Educational materials include patient decision aids and decision support interventions. Impacts the organization through development and implementation of patient education resources.
JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES Assesses, plans, and implements patient education content and programs •Develops and maintains timelines and deliverables schedules for assigned projects. •Acts as primary liaison with the decision aid production team (playwrights, graphic illustrators, videographers, narrators, programmers, and others). •Facilitates team meetings including scheduling, creation of agendas, tracking of action items, and writing up minutes. •Tracks versions of products and maintains disposition reports of edits to products. •Fastidiously documents processes, communications, and project decisions for later use in publications and reporting. •Prepares reports for project funders and presentations or publications for dissemination of information related to the project.
Evaluates patient education content and programs •Provides study-related coordination necessary for projects, including writing, submitting, and maintaining IRB protocols. •Develops materials necessary for research (e.g. protocols, interview and focus group guides, questionnaires, and survey instruments). •Screens individuals for eligibility, recruits research participants (by phone, email, or in-person), confirms eligibility, obtains informed consent, and enrolls eligible participants. •Conducts and codes qualitative interviews (e.g. needs assessment interviews), performs cognitive/acceptability/usability testing, and administers surveys to learner audiences. •Develops and maintains regulatory binder and source documents, creates databases, and maintains data quality by entering and verifying data. •Creates procedure manuals, trains staff on protocol procedures, and assists with IRB audits.
Develops cancer-related materials and resources necessary for program implementation. •Conducts literature reviews and abstracts data from the literature on assigned topics. •Determines key messages and educational objectives for educational products. •Writes didactic content based on evidence and adapts content for lower-literate audiences using health literacy principles. •Understands scientific and technical writing to accurately summarize technical messages for various audiences. •Designs educational modules and programs including video scripts, textual content, flow diagrams, and storyboards. •Modifies content based on user testing and expert review. •Assures decision aids follow with International Patient Decision Aids Standards. •Maintains documentation of source material for all content.
Establishes, cultivates and maintains working relationships with institutional contacts to develop and facilitate collaborative partnerships •Charismatically engages in a friendly and helpful manner with various project contacts. •Maintains open lines of communication with project PIs and staff. •Is comfortable and skilled in communication in-person, virtually, and by phone and email. •Actively listens to team members and project contacts. •Understands when to serve as a leader and when to participate as a team member. •Understands appropriate circumstances to elicit assistance from others. •Welcomes constructive feedback. •Thinks quickly and critically about study activities, identifying areas for improvement and opportunities for action. •Uses patience, resourcefulness, and creative thinking in moments that lack clarity. •Introspectively examines opportunities for development and growth. •Seeks out new information and identifies opportunities to implement new knowledge into practice.
Other duties as assigned
Travel and hours
Position may require travel and use of personal vehicle. Ability to travel to locations in the Houston area (Galveston, the Woodlands, Katy, etc.) 20%. Ability to work occasional nights and weekends.
EDUCATION: Required: Bachelor's degree in Public Health, Health Education, Community Health Education or related field.
EXPERIENCE: Required: Two years experience coordinating patient education programs.
Preferred: Experience in research, prior experience with data collection and literature reviews, excellent medical writing skills for lay/patient audiences, careful attention to detail, experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, supervisory abilities. Bilingual fluency in English and Spanish is a plus. Travel to surrounding areas.
CERTIFICATION: Preferred Certification:Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES)
OTHER: Required: Must pass pre-employment skills test as required and administered by Human Resources.
It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. http://www.mdanderson.org/about-us/legal-and-policy/legal-statements/eeo-affirmative-action.html
