Finding and Using Patient Education Materials

Writing and designing readable patient education materials.

Functional illiteracy is a problem often overlooked by nurses. Although the average adult in the United States cannot read above the eighth-grade level, most patient education materials are written on a high-school or college reading level. If patients cannot read educational materials, then there is little hope of them using or understanding the information. Strategies for improving the readab...

Using the intranet to deliver patient-education materials.

Patient education is a critical part of healthcare delivery. Many factors reduce the amount of time nurses can devote to patient teaching. One mode of patient teaching, the use of printed materials, is an efficient and effective way to deliver and reinforce patient education. However, several barriers are associated with the method, including outdated or exhausted supplies of stock materials, e...

Guide to finding pediatric injury prevention public education materials.

Readability and patient education materials used for low-income populations.

UNLABELLED More than 90 million Americans have low levels of health literacy that may contribute to poor health outcomes. Assessment of the readability of patient education materials (PEMs) is a vital component of health education. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to describe the readability of PEMs used in community healthcare settings serving low-income populations to provide further insig...

Authoring and Generation of Individualized Patient Education Materials

Although the pre-surgical patient-surgeon encounter is the opportunity to educate the patient, it is essential that the patient be given educational materials to complement the face-to-face exchange. This is virtu-ally impossible to do well with brochures, because many combinations of procedures are possible, dif-ferent patients have different concerns, and patients have varying levels of liter...