Health information plays a critical role, whether a patient is preparing for surgery or trying to understand how a new medicine works. If the instruction manual lack precise and clear content, it could lead to adverse results, causing added hospital visits and medical bills.
Studies reveal that patients with a low health literacy often had to stay back in hospital more and some of them had to revisit emergency department. On the other hand, patients who can understand the discharge and post care instructions are less likely to visit the emergency department or get re-admitted.
What is health literacy?
Health literacy is the level or degree of an individual’s ability to read, understand and then use the information or services provided, in order to inform decisions that are health related for the individual or others. The job role of a healthcare/ medical writer is to ensure that the health information is easy to access for the end users.
How to improve readability in patient education materials?
Organizing information: Always start with the relevant context. A lot of patients ands their families tend to read just the first few sentences on any reading material. Therefore, the writer needs to put ‘need to know’ information at the top. This also promotes reader engagement.
Use active voice: The tone should be simple and instructive. Tell the reader what and how things are done. Avoid unnecessary details. Keep short and simple sentences with no more than 20 words. Explain new concepts and words. Try to add examples.
Avoid using numbers and percentages: Don’t fill the document with statistical information as it doesn’t help the patients to understand post care instructions. Numbers can complicate the documentation for them.
Keep a simple layout: There should be a lot of blank space, wide margins in order to have enough space between paragraphs. A bulleted list can help in breaking up information blocks, especially if there are lists of food or medications that the patient needs to avoid before or after surgery. Maintain font sizes and other styles in the document. Keep the font size at least 12.
Avoid medical jargon: Writers and marketers need to understand the importance of patient materials for the end users. They should use plain language and terminology that most patients can understand.
Maintain accuracy: Writers should know that the information they are providing is critical to someone’s health. They should base their research and use information from trusted medical sources and check if there are clinical review methods with results before they information is shared to patients.
Joyeeta Writes 