The Process Of Creating Patient Handouts
by Laura Gibson
Patients that are more educated are likely to have better outcomes after treatment than those that are deficient in knowledge. Research shows that such patients are more adherent to the treatments that have been prescribed. Communication in healthcare can be achieved in a number of ways. These include, among others, health talks, print media, electronic media and <a href="http://www.vivacare.com">patient handouts</a> among others. We will briefly look at how handouts can be utilized.
The first thing that one needs to do is to clearly identify their target audience. Audience characteristics have a great influence on the content. They include the type of medical conditions and diseases managed in the facility, the age and gender of patients and the aim of the message. To understand these aspects, there is a need to conduct research in the preparation stage. In some cases, the target group may be large and heterogeneous which may force you to break it down into smaller groups.
After identification of the target audience, the next step is to create the content of the brochure. The easiest way to do this is to start by creating an outline (or rough draft). Finer adjustments can be made later on before the creation of the final message. Choose your level of vocabulary carefully so that it can be understood by your target audience easily. The sentences should preferably be short and concise.
There are different formats that one can choose from. The first is based on titles and subtitles. The title addresses the main topic while the subtitles serve to provide a little more information on the topic under discussion. For instance, if the main title is diabetes. The subtitles would address issues such as the risk factors of the condition, the causes, treatments and complications among others. The question and answer format is another alternative.
Try as much as possible to have illustrations in your handout. Their presence has been shown to increase readability. There are two main types: educative and filler illustrations. The former are useful in making concepts clearer. An example is the labelled image of a heart and associated blood vessels in a brochure discussing hypertension and heart disease. Filler illustrations are mainly used to break the reading monotony.
You need to be creative to attract wider readership. Modifying the handout into a useful item will ensure that the patients remain with it for a long time and refer to it from time to time. Having a calendar printed on one side or modifying the brochure to a bookmark are just but a few examples of ideas that can be adopted.
Advertising may be done in the brochures alongside the information. Such advertisements are likely to have a greater impact if they relate to the subject that is being discussed. For instance, if the main subject is on cancers, then advertisements should preferably focus on the management of such cancers at the facility. It is important that the advertisements do not exceed 20% of the total content.
The handouts that are used in patient education have remained an important tool of communication over the years. The brochures can be customized to meet patient and facility needs which makes them such a great option. Since the design and production process is quite challenging some people choose to outsource the entire exercise.
If you are looking for the facts about <a href="http://www.vivacare.com">patient handouts</a>, come to our web pages online here today. Additional details are available at http://www.vivacare.com now.
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New Unique Article!
Title: The Process Of Creating Patient Handouts
Author: Laura Gibson
Email: nathanwebster335@live.com
Keywords: patient handouts
Word Count: 557
Category: Disease & Illness
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