The Patient Informatics Consult Service (PICS) is a free information service provided by the Center for Knowledge Management information scientists to all current Vanderbilt Health patients and their family/caregivers. The goal of this program is to empower patients to be active participants in their healthcare.

This service combines VUMC’s electronic patient education resources with the expertise of information scientists to retrieve accurate, relevant, and appropriate information for Vanderbilt Health patients in easily-understandable packets tailored to the individual's needs about their specific medical condition, disease, or genetic results.

PICS can be requested by a Vanderbilt Health-affiliated clinician, patient, or family member/caregiver by completing this form. Features of PICS include:

• PICS information packets contain a summary of the condition, a bibliography of appropriate patient-focused articles when applicable, and summaries with full-text of the most relevant information.
• Patients seeking to understand their genetic test results will receive an information packet explaining their results as they relate to their specific medical condition or prescription drug.
• A copy of each personalized packet is also sent to the patient's clinician to complete the communication loop.
• Patients are encouraged to discuss the information in the packets with their physician or healthcare professional.