Communication is a vital part of any healthcare facility. It helps the clients of the facility to learn more about their condition and how best they can benefit from the services that are provided. There are many ways of passing over this information including the use of audiovisual documentaries, health talks by the healthcare providers and handouts. Patient education handouts are among the most effective method. We will look at what to consider when making 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.
Always ensure that your message is appropriate to your targeted audience. If you are dealing with a large, heterogeneous group, you may need to divide them into smaller, more homogeneous group ad develop brochures for each of them. The groups may be based on characteristics such as medical conditions, age, gender, level of education and so on. You can have all your clients to fill questionnaires whose analysis will help you determine which clients fall in particular categories.
Remain as simple as possible in your communication. The level of vocabulary used should be carefully chosen depending on the level of education of your audience. Go for short and concise sentences that are devoid of unnecessary explanations. If there is a need to provide more information, reading resources can be referenced in the brochure.
Create room for illustrations to accompany the literature. Illustrations are in some cases, the best approach when explaining some concepts. The two main types that exist include the filler illustrations and the informational type. The former have educational value and are merely included to add color and to break the monotony of reading. The informational type, on the other, hand have an educational value.
For a person that feels that they are too busy or have no adequate skills and knowledge, outsourcing the process is an option. The agency that takes up this responsibility will conduct client interviews on your behalf, design the brochure and create the content required. Although the process may be quite expensive, it has the advantage of allowing you to carry on with your normal routine uninterrupted.
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.
Always ensure that your message is appropriate to your targeted audience. If you are dealing with a large, heterogeneous group, you may need to divide them into smaller, more homogeneous group ad develop brochures for each of them. The groups may be based on characteristics such as medical conditions, age, gender, level of education and so on. You can have all your clients to fill questionnaires whose analysis will help you determine which clients fall in particular categories.
Remain as simple as possible in your communication. The level of vocabulary used should be carefully chosen depending on the level of education of your audience. Go for short and concise sentences that are devoid of unnecessary explanations. If there is a need to provide more information, reading resources can be referenced in the brochure.
Create room for illustrations to accompany the literature. Illustrations are in some cases, the best approach when explaining some concepts. The two main types that exist include the filler illustrations and the informational type. The former have educational value and are merely included to add color and to break the monotony of reading. The informational type, on the other, hand have an educational value.
For a person that feels that they are too busy or have no adequate skills and knowledge, outsourcing the process is an option. The agency that takes up this responsibility will conduct client interviews on your behalf, design the brochure and create the content required. Although the process may be quite expensive, it has the advantage of allowing you to carry on with your normal routine uninterrupted.
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