OrcaMD recently released an infographic with eye-opening statistics from The Center for Disease Control and Prevention about patient education. The infographic below suggests that half of patients walk out of the physician’s office not knowing what they were told and ask an average of only 0-2 questions per visit. Research also shows that patients are often confused by medical jargon and doctors’ instructions.
Many doctors are turning to online and mobile solutions to help foster better patient education and communication. Here are a few ways to encourage patient education online:
- Launch a blog: Share frequent blog posts about the procedures you perform, conditions you treat, and offer tips for patients to prevent further health issues. Use language your patients will understand and images to help explain visually.
- Be available social networks: Chances are most of your patients are on at least one social network. Encourage them to ask general health questions and make yourself available to provide answers.
- Send reminder emails and text messages: Utilize email and text messages to send appointment reminders, book follow-up appointments and even to remind patients to take their medications.
- Share procedure and condition animations: A great way to help patients understand procedures and conditions is by providing animations on your website. If a patient can watch a quick video, rather than read through pages of text, it can make all the difference.
- Frequently asked questions: Answer Frequently Asked Questions on your website. This will not only save you time in having to provide an answer, it will also give patients the answers they’re looking for in a click!
How are you utilizing the web to connect with your patients?
How do you provide patients with educational resources online? Let us know!
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