Themed bulletin boards make good teaching tools
Information provides education at a glance
Educational information tucked away in a drawer where patients can’t see it isn’t being put to good use, says Terry Chase, ND, RN, patient and family education program coordinator at Craig Hospital. Therefore, she looks for different ways that are interesting and creative to get information in front of patients.
When she noticed that a large bulletin board in the outpatient clinic had a jumble of materials tacked to it and was not being used well, she decided to create themed educational displays. Every two months, she puts new information on the bulletin board for patients to read.
One theme focused on the "Five-a-Day Plan," which teaches people to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. The bulletin board had information such as recommended fruits and vegetables and how to include five servings a day in a diet plan.
All bulletin board themes have information on how the topic relates to spinal cord and brain injury patients because that is the population the health care facility serves. They also are visually appealing with lots of color and pictures, as well as easy to read.
"They don’t have a lot of information, just brief outlines and points of emphasis," says Chase.
During the summer, skin cancer prevention was the theme. Information in the display included how to detect skin cancer and how to prevent it. It also included information pertinent to spinal cord patients, such as a reminder that they have decreased sensation and will be less likely to know they are burning. Also, sitting in a wheelchair, patients may have different parts of their bodies exposed longer to the sun. Equipment, such as a wheelchair, tends to get hot in the sun as well.
Chase created a template that she follows each time she changes the bulletin board, which makes it easier to create the display once she selects the topic. The main theme always is in the center of the board with other information surrounding it.
In February, to coincide with American Heart Month, the national health observance sponsored by the Dallas-based American Heart Association, Chase displayed information on how to have a healthy heart. The central theme, a healthy heart, is surrounded by information about heart-healthy foods, activity, and regular check-ups with a physician. The information is tied to patients with spinal cord or brain injuries by putting up suggestions on different ways to stay active based on the level of injury and mobility of patients.
"My original idea was to tie into some sort of national awareness campaign and general health promotion because I want people in our hospital to understand that they are not that much different from everyone else as far as health issues that all of us have to attend to," says Chase.
The bulletin board displays can be used time and again because once Chase maps out the various issues to be covered within each topic, the graphics department creates them in sections. In this way, the information can be tacked up in a different order each time it is used. Also, if information becomes outdated, only a portion of the display has to be changed. Each section is laminated to prevent wear and tear.
Chase keeps files of information that is pertinent to the patient population she serves and uses it to create the bulletin boards. Once she picks a topic, it only takes a few hours to select information and map out a design, but she does the work over the course of a week to fit her schedule.
The bulletin board seems to be a good method of education. Patients often are in the outpatient clinic waiting room for long periods of time as they may have appointments scheduled with several health care practitioners in one afternoon, therefore there is ample opportunity to read the information. The board is hung at about the height of a desk so that people in wheelchairs easily can see it.
"I haven’t done a formal evaluation, but nurses tell me anecdotally that the patients have asked about the information on it," says Chase.
Sources
For more information about creating a themed bulletin board on patient education, contact:
• Terry Chase, ND, RN, Patient & Family Education Pro-gram Coordinator, Craig Hospital, 3425 S. Clarkson St., Englewood, CO 80110. Telephone: (303) 789-8211. E-mail: [email protected].
Educational information tucked away in a drawer where patients cant see it isnt being put to good use, says Terry Chase, ND, RN, patient and family education program coordinator at Craig Hospital. Therefore, she looks for different ways that are interesting and creative to get information in front of patients.
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