Having a patient participate in their own well-being is an important strategy in the management of diseases and medical conditions. One way of ensuring that clients take part in their own treatment is to adequately educate them about their illnesses. They need to know what it is that they are suffering from, how they got it and what role they have to play in the treatment process. The use of patient education handouts makes this possible with relative ease.
The handouts vary in design depending on a number of factors. These include, for example, the type of diseases for which they have been designed, the age and social status of target clients and the exact message to be communicated. It is important that research is carried out to better understand the context so that the design settled on eventually creates the biggest impact.
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.
The social status will more often than not have a bearing on the level of education. Most clients that come from poor social economic backgrounds are likely to also have a lower level of education compared to their counterparts with a well to do background. With this in mind, you will be well placed to design a message that can be easily understood by each of these groups. Provide simpler terms for technical terms whenever possible.
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.
Pictures and illustrations are an important tool of communication and should be used whenever there is an opportunity. Their main benefits include the fact that they can communicate the message more precisely and make the reading more interesting. Choose pictures that are appropriate for your target audience. You may need to hire a medical illustrator for this task.
When the client reads the message just once they will most likely forget a significant part of it. Reinterpretation may also occur over a period of time. There are some strategies that can be used to overcome this challenge. For instance, the message can be incorporated into items that the client will require on a daily basis. These include bookmarks and calendars. They will read the message every time they wish to use any of these items.
These tools can also be used to the advantage of the health facility. Advertisements can be printed alongside the education material and most clients will not mind reading them as well. Some of the information that can be passed in this manner includes services that are provided within the center, contact address, other branches and so on.
The handouts vary in design depending on a number of factors. These include, for example, the type of diseases for which they have been designed, the age and social status of target clients and the exact message to be communicated. It is important that research is carried out to better understand the context so that the design settled on eventually creates the biggest impact.
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.
The social status will more often than not have a bearing on the level of education. Most clients that come from poor social economic backgrounds are likely to also have a lower level of education compared to their counterparts with a well to do background. With this in mind, you will be well placed to design a message that can be easily understood by each of these groups. Provide simpler terms for technical terms whenever possible.
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.
Pictures and illustrations are an important tool of communication and should be used whenever there is an opportunity. Their main benefits include the fact that they can communicate the message more precisely and make the reading more interesting. Choose pictures that are appropriate for your target audience. You may need to hire a medical illustrator for this task.
When the client reads the message just once they will most likely forget a significant part of it. Reinterpretation may also occur over a period of time. There are some strategies that can be used to overcome this challenge. For instance, the message can be incorporated into items that the client will require on a daily basis. These include bookmarks and calendars. They will read the message every time they wish to use any of these items.
These tools can also be used to the advantage of the health facility. Advertisements can be printed alongside the education material and most clients will not mind reading them as well. Some of the information that can be passed in this manner includes services that are provided within the center, contact address, other branches and so on.
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