There are numerous channels that can be used in passing information from a healthcare facility to patients. Patient education handouts have emerged as a preferred options due to their affordability and effectiveness. The specific uses of these documents include educating patients more on their diseases and medical conditions and informing them of the services that are available in the given facility. There are a number of things healthcare providers need to know about patient handouts.
Prospective users of these documents need to understand that the main role of handouts is to educate rather than advertise. As a matter of fact, the general recommendation is that 80% of content should be allocated to education of patients while 20% can be used for advertisements. Research indicates that persons that are educated regularly are likely to remain loyal to a healthcare institution than those that are not.
The design is an important aspect of the preparation process. One of the things that you need to bear in mind as you think about the design is the message that you intend to communicate. The easiest way to do this is to start by preparing an outline and refining it later on. You should have an idea of how many paragraphs you are going to have and what is going to be contained in each.
There are different formats that can be used when designing a handout. Those that are used commonly include the question and answer format and the titles and subtitle format. When discussing diseases one may choose the title and subtitle format in which the tittle focuses on the main topic while the subtitle addresses minor issues related to this topic. An example of a main topic is treatment of disease while the subtitles are the various treatment options that exist.
The message should always be appropriate for the target audience. If the group is larger and heterogeneous, there is a need to have it segmented into smaller units that have similar problems. The basis of segmentation may be the gender, the age, the level of education as well as the type of medical condition. When you do this, it becomes easier to develop materials that can address specific concerns.
Simplicity increases readability. Make sure that the level of vocabulary that is chosen can be understood by your audience. The sentences should ideally be short, concise and straight to the point. Too much detail may cause the readers to lose interest easily and should be avoided. If you feel compelled to discuss various aspects of medical conditions in a lot more detail then the best thing to do would be to develop separate brochures for the same.
The importance of illustrations cannot be overemphasized. In general, you will have two types of illustrations to choose from. They include the informational and the filler types. Informational illustrations are usually included in the material for educational purposes. An example of this type is a heart showing the heart and its associated vessels. Fillers are mainly added to add color and to break the monotony of text. They would include, for instance, a happy client, images of medical equipment and so on.
Remember that you can outsource this entire process to an agency. The agency will do everything on your behalf including conducting client interviews, designing the brochure and creating the content. The only downside to this is the high cost that may be associated with the process. The main advantage is that it will free you up to continue with your regular routine.
Prospective users of these documents need to understand that the main role of handouts is to educate rather than advertise. As a matter of fact, the general recommendation is that 80% of content should be allocated to education of patients while 20% can be used for advertisements. Research indicates that persons that are educated regularly are likely to remain loyal to a healthcare institution than those that are not.
The design is an important aspect of the preparation process. One of the things that you need to bear in mind as you think about the design is the message that you intend to communicate. The easiest way to do this is to start by preparing an outline and refining it later on. You should have an idea of how many paragraphs you are going to have and what is going to be contained in each.
There are different formats that can be used when designing a handout. Those that are used commonly include the question and answer format and the titles and subtitle format. When discussing diseases one may choose the title and subtitle format in which the tittle focuses on the main topic while the subtitle addresses minor issues related to this topic. An example of a main topic is treatment of disease while the subtitles are the various treatment options that exist.
The message should always be appropriate for the target audience. If the group is larger and heterogeneous, there is a need to have it segmented into smaller units that have similar problems. The basis of segmentation may be the gender, the age, the level of education as well as the type of medical condition. When you do this, it becomes easier to develop materials that can address specific concerns.
Simplicity increases readability. Make sure that the level of vocabulary that is chosen can be understood by your audience. The sentences should ideally be short, concise and straight to the point. Too much detail may cause the readers to lose interest easily and should be avoided. If you feel compelled to discuss various aspects of medical conditions in a lot more detail then the best thing to do would be to develop separate brochures for the same.
The importance of illustrations cannot be overemphasized. In general, you will have two types of illustrations to choose from. They include the informational and the filler types. Informational illustrations are usually included in the material for educational purposes. An example of this type is a heart showing the heart and its associated vessels. Fillers are mainly added to add color and to break the monotony of text. They would include, for instance, a happy client, images of medical equipment and so on.
Remember that you can outsource this entire process to an agency. The agency will do everything on your behalf including conducting client interviews, designing the brochure and creating the content. The only downside to this is the high cost that may be associated with the process. The main advantage is that it will free you up to continue with your regular routine.
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