By Poppy Gallagher / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

You can give people this information in leaflets to be displayed publically, posters, books, and through the facility’s website – you can show people where to find the information on the website by displaying links around waiting and examination rooms. Providing this information can have a range of great benefits for both patients and physicians. When this information is provided, studies have been found that patients tend to ask their physicians fewer questions or ask more informed questions. Patients also often share this information with others outside of the facility, which means that you can have a great impact on the knowledge and health of others.

If you are not sure what kind of information you should be providing, here are some general subjects to get you started:

Travel and health

Patients that are considering travelling abroad may not know the health risks, so some important information to provide them with would relate to health and travel insurance, the potential health risks and any current news relating to disease outbreaks or epidemics around the world. Facilities in the UK often provide information about how to Renew E111 cards and provide information on how to order an EHIC. This allows holiday-goers to be better equipped when their abroad for any medical problems.

Help with giving up smoking

While the number of smokers is decreasing regularly, efforts to get people to quit should not be weakened. It is still of great importance that healthcare facilities warn people of the effects of smoking and provide information to help people to stop. If your facility doesn’t directly supply services to help smokers kick the habit, then it may be a good idea to provide information about services outside of your facility to help them quit.

Hygiene

To avoid being overloaded with patients during flu season, this information should be made particularly visible. Rather than general hygiene, this information relates to the spread of infections and diseases and the appropriate measures to take to avoid contracting these illnesses. Depending on the type of patients your facility receives, you may also want to advertise information regarding sexual health and STDs, although you may want to deliver it more discreetly than you might do other types of information.

Self-examinations

Self-examinations are an important part of self-care and it’s vital that people know how to conduct self-examinations – particularly for cancer. While illustrated diagrams on posters and in leaflets are typical, you might want to go a step further and provide a video tutorial online to give people a better idea about how to accurately perform a self-examination. You can provide information about where to find these tutorials and guides on printed materials and lead patients to your facility’s website to find out more.

Mental health information

Mental health is one of the biggest concerns for the healthcare industry today. A lot of criticism has been shared about how little information there is on available mental health services as well as general information about mental health. It’s important that practices do what they can to provide this information and necessary materials to help patients and non-patients learn about the effects of mental health and potential warning signs for individuals with such mental health conditions as depression and anxiety.