Reinventing Print Solutions for Patient Education

Reinventing Print Solutions for Patient Education
With the strengths of both the Web and self-care
handbooks in mind, Healthwise took on the challenge
of redesigning the Healthwise Handbook to make it:
• More accessible to the average person.
• More useful for controlling costs.
• Better at engaging people and then moving
them to the more interactive tools on the Web.

The bottom line is that books and other printed
materials are still essential to effective consumer engagement strategies.

In other words, don’t throw
out the books with your bottom line. Instead, use plain
language to reach and engage more consumers, include
cost-savings tips to make print materials more relevant
in the consumer-directed health care world, and add
Go-to-Web innovations to motivate people to use the
in-depth interactive materials on the Web."

I agree. Books are portable, cheap and available 24/7. They are much more important for patient education in developing countries, where few people have computers. These are complementary solutions - not competitive !