Poster sessions increase interest in education
To grab attention, post it!
How do you reach a varied audience with a good solid educational message? Try posters. At the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital, departments are encouraged to participate in the poster session, held during the celebration of Health Care Educa tion Week. The session is held in the main lobby in order to attract as many participants as possible.
"The posters represent education programs that are currently ongoing and are also interactive," says Sharon Sweeting, MS, RN, CDE, coordinator of patient and family education at the health care facility. "For example, our Reach to Recovery Mastectomy Program poster has the hand prints going up the wall that they do for stretch exercises post-operation," The diabetes case management program has a risk assessment that visitors can complete, and they do blood glucose tests to make their poster interactive.
The poster session during Health Care Education Week at the University of Missouri Hospitals and Clinics in Columbia has a slightly different twist. All the posters are displayed in the main lobby so staff, visitors, and patients can vote for their favorite posters. Staff submit posters to the contest that either teach patients or teach staff about patient education. Judging is based on creativity, most effective communication of the message, and best use of theme.
In addition, staff in the patient education department create posters to hang in the elevator lobbies. "We create these specifically for education, such as cultural awareness, or educational topics visitors can get something out of, like the use of sunscreen. We try to highlight some of the things we are trying to do with patient education or do some patient education that would also be applicable to the community and patients," explains Ceresa Ward, MS, RN, manager of health improvement services at the University of Missouri Hospitals and Clinics.
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