Scour the web and it’s not hard to find some pretty appalling patient information out there – patronising, unfriendly, dehumanising – and it’s such a wasted opportunity. Good patient information can be a healthcare service in own right. And, like any other service, it needs to be person centred.
To do it well, you need to know and care about your audience. That means understanding:
· why they’ve come to your resource
· what they’ve been through so far
· how they might be feeling at the time
· their worries, hopes and fears
· any sensitivities or language that’s a particular turnoff*
· their level of health literacy and reading age**
· what they may be facing into next, and what might help.
How do we find all this out? Simply by talking to them. And by ‘them’, I’m mainly talking about people with lived experience. Conversations with professionals are useful too – clinicians or helpline staff can tell you which queries come up most often. But this is no substitute for understanding the experience of someone who’s lived with a condition 24 hours a day.
As a layperson, you might gather insights that someone would never think to tell their healthcare team. Asking ‘What do you wish you’d known at the time?’ can reveal a host of practical tips that can ease the way for the next generation. Asking ‘What was the worst point?’ may produce unexpected insights that could have you revisiting your entire brief.
Once you’ve developed a full picture of who you’re writing for and what they need, you can get on with the writing, but always keeping this centred around your audience. So:
· Frame the content and structure around what matters most to them.
· Pitch the detail and language at the right level.
· Link any facts back to their situation.
· Include people’s voices to break down the barriers between ‘us’ (the information provider) and ‘them’ (the audience).
The only way you’ll know if your materials are hitting their mark is by testing them out on real people. Iterate and refine until you’ve got something that really works. There’s no magic formula for doing this – but if you write with a heart, you’ll be at least halfway there. If you need help, get in touch.
*I hope it goes without saying that empathy is not all you need for great patient information – it also has to be accurate, evidence based and inclusive and meet health literacy standards. If you’re new to this area, check out the Patient Information Forum.
**Let’s make a pact to avoid words like ‘abnormal’ and ‘dysfunctional’ in public-facing health content, shall we?