Ask me 3: Improving communication in a hispanic pediatric outpatient practice

Objective: To implement Ask-Me-3, a program that encourages patients to ask questions of physicians, in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic pediatric practice. Methods: We publicized Ask-Me-3 with posters/brochures in clinic. We interviewed parents before and 6 months after implementation to determine if they knew about and used the Ask-Me-3 questions. Results: No parents knew about Ask-Me-3 before implementation. Of 393 parents interviewed 6 months later, 42% knew about Ask-Me-3, and half of these used the questions. Conclusions: With a simple strategy for introducing Ask-Me-3, 20% of parents were using Ask-Me-3 six months later.