The main methods of communicating to patients who visit your facility include written literature, short video documentaries and public lectures among others. Some of these methods are either too expensive or require a lot of personal involvement. Patient education handouts are some of the most convenient way of doing this. Not only are they easily portable, but are also fairly easy and economical to make.
The content is the heart of the handout and should ideally consume most of your time. It refers to the choice of words and the message that they will relay to the clients. Start by creating a small outline of what you intend to put down. Come up with a few paragraphs with each addressing an important point. There are many different formats of presentation that can be adopted. The question and answer approach is by far the most preferred.
If you cannot recall the questions that are commonly asked by patients, consider involving your colleagues. Interview them to get more ideas on what to include in the material. They will give their opinion on what they think should be emphasized in each part based on their experiences with patients. After collecting all the views, you can sit down later and decide what you think is most important.
Many of the patients that one has to handle in a hospital or clinic form a heterogeneous group. The many and varied needs make it quite difficult to develop a handout that will effectively pass the intended message. To overcome this, one needs to break down the group into smaller units. This segmentation can be done based on factors such as age, the medical condition concerned, gender and so on.
The level of vocabulary used should correspond to the education level of your patients. Keep the sentences simple, concise and objective. Do not go into too much detail as this will most likely make your audience lose interest. For example, instead of addressing hypertension in general, focus on the lifestyle changes that can be made to ensure that blood pressure remains controlled if this is your main agenda.
Illustrations should be included to reduce the monotony of reading text and to add color to your presentation. They are broadly classified into two; informational and filler. Informational illustrations are meant to educate and serve to help explain an idea. Filler illustrations, on the other hand have no real value. They may include for example, a happy mother who has delivered a baby or a senior basking in the sun.
The design refers to the method that is adopted in gluing all the ideas together; the text, illustrations, presentation format and so on. It requires that you select the right color and font and make the material readable. It is a great determinant of whether the material will be read or not. Do some research to find out what best applies in your case.
If you have some money to spare then you may hire an agency to the same for you. There are downsides and benefits of taking this approach. One of the benefits is the fact that it will help you avoid the stress that is associated with the whole process. The main downside is that it may be quite expensive if you plan on producing different titles periodically to meet the changing needs of your clients.
The content is the heart of the handout and should ideally consume most of your time. It refers to the choice of words and the message that they will relay to the clients. Start by creating a small outline of what you intend to put down. Come up with a few paragraphs with each addressing an important point. There are many different formats of presentation that can be adopted. The question and answer approach is by far the most preferred.
If you cannot recall the questions that are commonly asked by patients, consider involving your colleagues. Interview them to get more ideas on what to include in the material. They will give their opinion on what they think should be emphasized in each part based on their experiences with patients. After collecting all the views, you can sit down later and decide what you think is most important.
Many of the patients that one has to handle in a hospital or clinic form a heterogeneous group. The many and varied needs make it quite difficult to develop a handout that will effectively pass the intended message. To overcome this, one needs to break down the group into smaller units. This segmentation can be done based on factors such as age, the medical condition concerned, gender and so on.
The level of vocabulary used should correspond to the education level of your patients. Keep the sentences simple, concise and objective. Do not go into too much detail as this will most likely make your audience lose interest. For example, instead of addressing hypertension in general, focus on the lifestyle changes that can be made to ensure that blood pressure remains controlled if this is your main agenda.
Illustrations should be included to reduce the monotony of reading text and to add color to your presentation. They are broadly classified into two; informational and filler. Informational illustrations are meant to educate and serve to help explain an idea. Filler illustrations, on the other hand have no real value. They may include for example, a happy mother who has delivered a baby or a senior basking in the sun.
The design refers to the method that is adopted in gluing all the ideas together; the text, illustrations, presentation format and so on. It requires that you select the right color and font and make the material readable. It is a great determinant of whether the material will be read or not. Do some research to find out what best applies in your case.
If you have some money to spare then you may hire an agency to the same for you. There are downsides and benefits of taking this approach. One of the benefits is the fact that it will help you avoid the stress that is associated with the whole process. The main downside is that it may be quite expensive if you plan on producing different titles periodically to meet the changing needs of your clients.
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