Free patient handouts your clinic, hospital, or library can print today
If you work with people affected by cancer — at an infusion center, an oncology clinic, a hospital social work department, a navigation program, a public library, or a support group — everything on this page is for you. 26 plain-language one-page handouts and 8 explainer diagrams, free to print and hand out, with sources printed on every page.
What you would be handing out
CancerExplained.org is a plain-language cancer education library for patients, caregivers, and families. Before you put our name in front of your patients or patrons, here is exactly what we are:
- Free. No ads. No sign-up. Nothing to buy — for you or for patients.
- Cancer Explained is a project of National Cancer Information Foundation, a Wyoming public benefit nonprofit corporation. Our 501(c)(3) application has been submitted and IRS determination is pending.
- Content is based on National Cancer Institute (NCI) educational resources, with sources cited on every page. NCI does not endorse this site.
- Cancer Explained uses AI to organize and translate information from the authoritative sources cited on each page. Automated checks review claims, citations, clarity, duplication, and potential safety concerns before publication. Our content is not currently reviewed by physicians unless a specific qualified reviewer is named on the page. Cancer Explained provides general education and should not replace advice from your healthcare team.
Full details: how we review content, how we use AI, and transparency & governance. Our handouts are patient education, not medical advice — every one says so on the page.
The print pack
Every handout fits on one printed page, works in black and white, and opens with a print button — open one, then print it or save it as a PDF. Grouped here by where it gets used:
Waiting rooms & newly diagnosed
For front desks, waiting areas, and the folder that goes home with a newly diagnosed patient.
- Scared? Confused? Start here.A waiting-room handout that points patients and families to free, plain-language answers
- Scared? Confused? Start here.Waiting-room handout with a “provided by” line your clinic can stamp or sign
- First Questions After a DiagnosisA short list to bring to the first appointment, in plain language
- Pathology Report TermsPlain-language meanings for words on a pathology report
- Making Sense of Scan and Test ResultsWhat the common words on a scan or lab result usually mean
- Treatment Words, ExplainedPlain-language meanings for common treatment terms
Treatment days & follow-up
For infusion chairs, chemo-teach sessions, discharge packets, and visits after treatment ends.
- When to Call Your Care TeamSimple signs that mean call now, call today, or mention at your next visit
- Side Effect TrackerRecord treatment side effects between visits
- Symptom JournalA simple daily log to share with your healthcare team
- Medication List TemplateOne page to record everything you take
- Patient Note PagesA simple template for appointment notes
- Treatment Travel ChecklistGetting to appointments and treatment days, organized
- Scan Appointment NotesA template for imaging visits — CT, MRI, PET, and more
- Survivorship Follow-Up QuestionsQuestions for visits after treatment ends
Caregivers & families
For the family members and friends who carry the practical load.
Kids & teens
Written for young patients themselves — not about them.
Clinical trials education
For navigators and research staff explaining trials in plain language.
- Clinical Trial ChecklistSteps to walk through before deciding about a trial
- Questions for Your Oncologist: Clinical TrialsBring this list to your next appointment
- Understanding Trial PhasesWhat Phase 1, 2, 3, and 4 actually mean
- Understanding Informed ConsentYour rights before and during a clinical trial
Prevention & screening — libraries, workplaces, community
For health fairs, library programming, workplace wellness boards, and community events.
- Cancer Screening by AgeA quick reference for adults at average risk
- Colorectal Cancer ScreeningScreening starts at 45 — and you have options
- Lung Cancer ScreeningWho qualifies for a yearly low-dose CT scan
- Sun Safety BasicsSimple habits that prevent most skin cancer
- Quitting SmokingThe single biggest step to lower cancer risk
Explainer diagrams
Original diagrams that untangle the distinctions patients ask about most. Each has a full text description and works in black and white.
How organizations use these
Waiting rooms & infusion suites
Print the “Scared? Confused? Start here.” handout — it exists specifically for waiting rooms, including a version with a blank “provided by” line your clinic can stamp or sign. The QR code points to the site, so one page opens the whole free library.
Discharge & new-patient packets
Tuck “First Questions After a Diagnosis,” “When to Call Your Care Team,” and the medication list into the folder that goes home. The blank phone-number lines on “When to Call” are meant to be filled in with your own after-hours numbers before you hand it out.
Resource tables & health fairs
The prevention and screening one-pagers are made for tables: single page, sources printed on the page, and they work in black and white on a normal office printer.
Public libraries
Display the waiting-room handout near health collections, print the screening one-pagers for community boards, and see our Kiwix edition — the entire library as a free offline file for computers without reliable internet.
Support groups
The caregiver checklist, symptom journal, and question lists make practical session handouts — each one ends with a plain next step rather than homework.
For libraries and low-connectivity settings, the Kiwix offline edition packages the entire library — 1,400+ articles, kids’ pages, and Spanish guides — into one free file readable with no internet.
Permission to print & distribute
You do not need to ask. Every printable one-pager on this site is free to print and distribute, in unmodified form, for non-commercial patient education — in clinics, hospitals, libraries, schools, workplaces, and community settings. Filling in the blank lines a handout provides (care-team phone numbers, the “provided by” line) is exactly what they are for and doesn’t count as modifying it.
Diagrams may be shared and embedded with attribution to “Cancer Explained, published by National Cancer Information Foundation.” Please don’t sell the materials, and please don’t present the site as a clinical authority or imply physician review where none is stated on the page.
Request materials or partner with us
Want a sample pack as ready-to-print PDFs, a version of a handout with your organization’s name on the “provided by” line, or to talk about an ongoing partnership? Email us — a person reads every message.
Tell us who you serve and roughly how many copies you need — we’ll reply with print-ready files and anything else that helps.
Two more things worth pointing patients to
The Support & Assistance Finder — a verified directory of support groups, financial help, copay assistance, free rides to treatment, lodging, and caregiver support. Useful when a patient asks “is there any help with…?”
Información en español — plain-language guides for Spanish-speaking patients and families, plus hub pages in other languages.