Posting patient education materials is a great way to help patients navigate the complex medical industry and make informed decisions. Unfortunately, being an insider, aka a healthcare professional, can be counterproductive.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure you’re a highly skilled professional with a wealth of knowledge to share with the world. However, your familiarity with the industry can prevent patients from understanding complex medical information.
In the U.S. alone, nine out of 10 patients have low health literacy. This poses a challenge for healthcare professionals and affects the overall patient experience.
That’s why it’s always recommended to use simple, straightforward language to communicate with patients. Here are four handy tips to help you create informative and entertaining patient education materials.
Embrace Simplicity
In the healthcare industry, it’s common for things to differ from sector to sector. However, one thing remains a universal truth: patients like clear language. They want someone who can explain to them in plain English what’s happening to their bodies or what procedure they’re about to undergo.
Not to mention, patients with hospital anxiety are twice as likely to need clear language. By writing your content in a way anyone can understand, you’re contributing to the patient’s experience and making life easier for providers.
For example, instead of writing about influenza, write about the flu, and don’t leave anything behind. This includes discussing medical terminology and the differences between the common flu and the stomach flu.
Don’t Forget About the Media
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and with good reason. In healthcare, using images, videos, infographics, and any other visual aid that helps you get your point across is recommended and highly encouraged.
Every time you write something, whether it’s an article, social media post, or resource, use healthcare imagery to help your audience understand and become familiar with the concept you’re explaining.
For example, if you’re writing about sciatica, use images that:
- Tell readers where the sciatic nerve is located.
- Display different angles.
- Show how certain movements may be aggravating.
If the patient has already been diagnosed and wants to gain a deeper understanding of the condition, your content will help them do just that. Keep in mind that healthcare imagery, especially when used to explain complex concepts, should follow certain design rules.
This is because colors in healthcare are used to evoke different emotions. Take red, for example; it’s used to signal pain or to highlight the image’s focal point.
Know Your Audience
It may sound repetitive, but as with anything marketing-related, you need to know who you’re writing to and why. Let me explain.
Every healthcare company offers a specific product or service that’s essential to a specific group of people. In other words, they need that product or service to improve their lives or solve a problem.
Depending on the nature of your business, you could be a B2B or B2C company. For the sake of this blog, let’s assume that you’re a B2C company.
With that clarified, it’s time to narrow down your audience even more. Why do this? Because you should be able to accurately describe your ideal reader before you even begin the outlining process.
For example, if your company provides oral health services to children, you want to write your content for parents and caregivers of children under 14.
Simply put, your content strategy should appeal to this specific group and highlight the benefits their children will receive by purchasing your product or visiting your facility.
Use the Right Format
I’m a big fan of trying new things and doing a lot of A/B testing for content marketing, but sometimes following established best practices can yield better results. And that’s usually the case with content formats, especially in healthcare writing.
So what is a content format, and how does it affect your engagement rates? A content format is a recommended layout for a particular type of content. For example, a common content format for online articles is paragraphs of no more than 100 words each, with three images distributed throughout the copy.
Depending on your website’s theme and style guide, I would go further and suggest spacing those paragraphs even further, making it a rule to have up to two sentences per paragraph. That way, you won’t overwhelm your reader or cause eye fatigue.
Why Is It Important To Use Clear Language in Patient Education Materials?
The short answer is that clear language helps you bridge the gap between patients and providers created by fear. You see, most patients are afraid to ask questions because they don’t want to look stupid. By using clear language, you’re giving them a chance to have a better understanding of a particular condition and, therefore, feel more comfortable in a healthcare setting.
The long answer involves psychology, patient rights, professional ethics, and a successful marketing strategy. Allow me to explain.
As I mentioned above, there’s usually a barrier between the patient and the provider. Several factors contribute to that barrier, including cultural differences, language, and health literacy. Naturally, these factors have a direct impact on patient behavior.
When you use clear language to communicate with a patient, you’re easing their psychological reaction to an unfamiliar environment where they’re clearly at a disadvantage.
As for patients’ rights and professional ethics, you may know that healthcare professionals must abide by healthcare laws and ethics. One of these laws states that all healthcare professionals must provide patients with the right information to make informed decisions. This also applies to medical writing.
In short, when creating patient education materials, you have to write clearly so that patients can make the decision that best benefits them.
Finally, using clear language in patient education materials is important because a marketing strategy without effective communication won’t get you the results you want. This means you must create content that your audience can understand and use.
Remember, your content should not only answer questions and provide insights, but it should do so in a way that anyone, regardless of their education level, can understand.
Otherwise, they won’t find your content valuable, and your content marketing goals will be harder to achieve.