Written Evaluation of a Patient Education Tool for an adult with an Essay

Written Evaluation of a Patient Education Tool for an adult with an acute or chronic alteration in health status - Essay Example There are, however, many applicable tools for patient education and the characteristics of each tool together with its advantages and disadvantages and the nature of the target patient or patient population are instrumental in determining suitability of a patient education tool. A patient’s age or literacy level, for example, determines effectiveness of a tool towards awareness creation. The aim of this paper is to evaluate a handout used for patient education for an adult with asthma. Introduction of the tool: Handout A hand out refers to a written material, in a print format, which is offered to an audience free of charge. It aims at communicating purposeful information to the audience and is therefore audience specific. It is a commonly applied tool in patient education and is distributed at strategic points in health care facilities. Handouts are majorly intended to create awareness, among patients, on preventive and management strategies for eliminating diseases or managi ng their impacts and the management aspect is very instrumental to adult patients with chronic diseases because their conditions requires effective, and for efficiency, self-reliant managerial approaches. The document, ‘Asthma’s impacts on the nation: Data from the CDC national asthma control program,’ is an example of handout that facilitates awareness on asthma, a chronic disease. The handout is authored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national agency in the department of health in the USA. It is available in the internet but can easily be accessed in print form and disseminated to target audience such as attendants to a health care’s department of chronic diseases or in consultation rooms for asthma patients (IHS, n.d.; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The tool’s design incorporates graphics with colors and pictures that facilitate its effectiveness by drawing and retaining audience’s attention. It fu rther identifies major points by isolating them in side boxes and using numerical and imagery representations to distinguish them. The handout also represents information in summarized point forms and this identifies clarity towards effective communication of the intended message. It is also relatively brief and is organized into headings. While it’s short length avoids monotony and therefore allows for audience concentration in reading the entire document, organization of information by titles that are further printed in bold identifies the tool’s content and therefore facilitate the intended educational objective for each section. The handout’s level of precision also identifies its efficiency because the bulleted points are conspicuous. The tool’s content defines asthma, and identifies symptoms, known causes, and its significance in the society. It further explores strategies for preventing and managing asthmatic conditions and risk factors. The handou t further explores the scope of asthma in the society by examining level of awareness and active participation in management initiatives among children and adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). Intended Audience The tool is appropriate for the adult population that is literate and is rational. Even though it is specific on a type of disease, asthma, the handout is appropriate for the entire literate population because of its significance to both those who are suffering from the chronic disease, and those who are affected by the disease. The affected population includes family members of those who suffer from this disorder and they may derive sufficient knowledge for helping asthma patients to manage their conditions effectively. The same significance applies to friends and even the society and allows for assistance