Eczema School: Educational Materials from the MUHC COE AD
Patient Guide
As part of its mission to drive excellence and Quality of Care in the treatment of adult eczema, the MUHC COE AD is proud to share these Eczema School: Educational Materials, validated resources for self-management developed by Dr. Carolyn Jack and her team. These bilingual materials include a patient handout covering the basics of the disease and a guide to barrier care. This and all other resources on this page are free to download.
Mental health resources (flyer)
We know that eczema can have a significant impact on patients' psychological and emotional wellbeing. The disease is unpredictable, and changes daily, with red-hot skin, extreme itch, loss of sleep and daytime concentration all interfering with daily life. Symptoms of anxiety and depression can create a vicious circle, exacerbating the physical symptoms of your decease, which in turn leads to greater mental health problems. This negatively affects patients' wellbeing, which is why it's so important to seek help if you are struggling with your mental health or managing your decease.
EczemaQ mHealth app
Guided by CIHR’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research, Dr. Carolyn Jack co-founded and co-developed EczemaQ, a mobile health (mHealth) app designed to provide remote access to care and personalized medicine to adult patients living with atopic dermatitis, empowering this population through shared decision making and self-management of their disease.
The app’s validated educational content is centered around 5 common patient questions - What, Why, When, What now, and Where - with bite-sized, easily digestible educational content on atopic dermatitis. The ‘Body Map’ module gives patients the most up-to-date treatment options per body part, with information on posology and side effects. We also provide a diagnostic tool, disease tracking through the validated patient-reported outcome measure POEM, and a dedicated photo gallery and notes module. All of this is also available in French.
EczemaQ aims to improve efficiency of clinical encounters, reduce the burden of in-person knowledge translation, help patients remotely self-manage their disease, and, in the long-term, by managing disease, reduce the immense cost burden of AD. Presented in JACI: In Practice, this pilot project has REB approval, funding, and collaborators (S. Lambert, Ingram School of Nursing; Unité de Soutien SSA Québec) for validation.
The app was awarded a Canadian Dermatology Association Public Education Award and won McGill’s $50,000 Hakim Innovation Prize for Most Transformative Clinical Innovation.
If you are a patient and would like access to the EczemaQ app, please contact us at [email protected].
FAQ Video Series
In partnership with the registered non-profit Eczéma Québec, the founder of the MUHC COE AD, Dr. Carolyn Jack (MDCM, PhD, FRCPC), addresses some of the most frequently asked questions from adult atopic dermatitis patients. To access the full video series, click on the Playlist icon in the top right corner of the video below, or select one of the links below.
- What is eczema?
- What causes eczema?
- How can I know if I have eczema?
- How common is eczema?
- How can I tell if my skin is infected?
- What are atopic diseases or atopic comorbidities?
- What causes my eczema to flare?
- Why do I have eczema?
- How do doctors measure the severity of eczema?
- Can I improve my eczema by changing my diet?
- How can I treat my eczema?
- How can I help keep my skin barrier healthy?
- Topical treatments for eczema
- Phototherapy treatment for eczema
- Systemic treatments for eczema (Part 1)
- Systemic treatments for eczema (Part 2)
- What is the skin's microbiome?
- Which moisturizer is best for eczema?
- Will my eczema self-resolve?
- What are the risks of topical corticosteroids?
Patient Resources
The information and links on this website do not replace medical advice from a doctor. You should always see your doctor if you have any serious medical issues that require more immediate attention.