Patients should be properly educated if they are to play an active role in the management of their medical conditions and diseases. If one understands why they are suffering from a certain condition and why they have to take a certain drug at particular intervals, they most likely will adhere to the instructions. Using patient education handouts is one of the strategies that has been adopted by many health centers in a bid to pass on important information in a cost effective manner.
The design of a handout will differ depending on a number of factors. The factors include, nature of disease, the age and gender of your clients as well as the social status. To better understand these different aspects, you may need to conduct research. Design questionnaires that seek to establish some of these parameters. Patients will fill in the questionnaires as they come for the first or follow up visits.
If the disease that is being treated is long term or terminal, then the material selected has to be one that will last for a long period of time since the clients will need to refer to it every now and then. This will also apply for endemic diseases for which clients have to seek treatment seasonally. This is in contrast to short term illnesses where communication is intended only for a brief period.
Social status is important because more often than not, it has a bearing on the level of education. The idea is to reach out to as many clients as possible and for this reason you have to use language that is easy to understand. Technical terms should be avoided as much as possible and simpler alternatives offered. Just to have an idea of the level of education of your clients, you may have them fill some questionnaires.
Deliver your message in a brief and straight forward manner. Your patients are mainly concerned about being treated and may not have the patience to read through long explanations. Use short sentences that make sense. To make the outline easier to navigate, organize it into main headings with subheadings underneath. You may have short explanations below each of the subheadings.
Use pictures and illustrations to explain some points whenever you can. Not only will they pass the message across more effectively but they will also make it more interesting. You can design the images yourself if you have some skill or hire a medical illustrator. The pictures and illustrations chosen will depend on the type of target clients.
In most cases some information is lost or interpreted differently as time goes by. To minimize this, have the clients refer to your brochures as often as possible. The easiest way to achieve this is by using incorporating the message into items that are used frequently. For example, the brochures can be designed into calendars or bookmarks. Every time the client uses these items, they get in contact with your message.
One of the benefits that will be realized by the health facility in using these tools is the fact that they can be used for advertisement. Information regarding the range of services offered at the facility can be included alongside the original message or just as a foot note. This will work to cut down on advertisement costs.
The design of a handout will differ depending on a number of factors. The factors include, nature of disease, the age and gender of your clients as well as the social status. To better understand these different aspects, you may need to conduct research. Design questionnaires that seek to establish some of these parameters. Patients will fill in the questionnaires as they come for the first or follow up visits.
If the disease that is being treated is long term or terminal, then the material selected has to be one that will last for a long period of time since the clients will need to refer to it every now and then. This will also apply for endemic diseases for which clients have to seek treatment seasonally. This is in contrast to short term illnesses where communication is intended only for a brief period.
Social status is important because more often than not, it has a bearing on the level of education. The idea is to reach out to as many clients as possible and for this reason you have to use language that is easy to understand. Technical terms should be avoided as much as possible and simpler alternatives offered. Just to have an idea of the level of education of your clients, you may have them fill some questionnaires.
Deliver your message in a brief and straight forward manner. Your patients are mainly concerned about being treated and may not have the patience to read through long explanations. Use short sentences that make sense. To make the outline easier to navigate, organize it into main headings with subheadings underneath. You may have short explanations below each of the subheadings.
Use pictures and illustrations to explain some points whenever you can. Not only will they pass the message across more effectively but they will also make it more interesting. You can design the images yourself if you have some skill or hire a medical illustrator. The pictures and illustrations chosen will depend on the type of target clients.
In most cases some information is lost or interpreted differently as time goes by. To minimize this, have the clients refer to your brochures as often as possible. The easiest way to achieve this is by using incorporating the message into items that are used frequently. For example, the brochures can be designed into calendars or bookmarks. Every time the client uses these items, they get in contact with your message.
One of the benefits that will be realized by the health facility in using these tools is the fact that they can be used for advertisement. Information regarding the range of services offered at the facility can be included alongside the original message or just as a foot note. This will work to cut down on advertisement costs.
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