The 4 Keys to Patient Education

A local integrative medicine practice here in Chapel Hill offers regular seminars for their patients and the community. Last week, I attended one on the broad topic of integrative medicine and nutrition—a tough topic to cover in just one hour. But in addition to teaching me some new information, the seminar was beneficial in that it reinforced how challenging it can be to educate consumers about nutrition and health.

Translating often complicated science into easy-to-understand and actionable information for the layperson can be difficult. The seminar led me to reflect on how we create educational materials here at Pulse, and the four keys to effective health and wellness education that guide our efforts.

1. What is the need?

Far too often, health and wellness information is presented as universal truths applicable to anyone anywhere who wants to be healthy. The truth is that our health and wellness needs are incredibly personalized and unique. We may be seeking to simply lead a healthier life, but we may also be looking to prevent or manage a specific condition. The first goal of any health and wellness education should be to clearly and concisely define the need, providing consumers with the ability to determine if the information is relevant to them.

2. What solution is being recommended and how does it work?

Once the need is clearly defined, we want to introduce the solution—or in many cases, solutions. More importantly, we want to explain the “why” and “how” behind the solution. We call this the “biorationale” and the need for this explanation comes from the fact that once a consumer has their health awareness heightened, they want more information, not less. Providing a cogent and understandable explanation that translates complicated science into easy-to-understand language is critical to driving real and lasting behavior change.  

3.  How is the solution applied?

In other words: how much, when, with what, and so on. This key focuses on helping the consumer understand how to incorporate this solution into their daily life and the specific parameters required to achieve the desired positive health benefit. Frequently, this key involves consulting a health professional, which is why face-to-face interactions between a health professional and a consumer are a great way to share this type of education.

4. Which brand and why?

Last, but not least, we want to ensure that we are providing a specific and compelling brand recommendation that will be reinforced by the health and wellness influencer. Here we can focus on a brand’s features and benefits, and its points of differentiation, to ensure we are driving the path to purchase. Year after year for more than 17 years, health and wellness professionals have told us that their patients and clients ask for specific brand recommendations. Providing this information meets the needs of both the professional and the consumer, as I saw at the seminar last week.

Once the topic of essential fatty acids was discussed, a hand popped up from the crowd. “What does that look like… Are there brands that you would suggest?” The host of the seminar answered with a branded recommendation and explanation. As she attempted to continue her speech she was interrupted by another attendee, “Is that at [a local grocery store]? Can I get it through Amazon?”

These are the questions that you, the health and wellness influencer, are asked everyday.  Our goal is to give you the tools you need to answer them.

PulseConnect. Making Connections, Influencing Behaviors.

Years ago a “health influencer” was someone narrowly defined within the healthcare field: a doctor, nurse, dietitian, or physical therapist. Today, a health and wellness influencer is more broadly defined to reflect a wide variety of professionals that influence Americans’ health and wellness, including personal trainers, midwives, and health coaches.  While practice titles may be different, all kinds of health and wellness professionals leverage a high level of influence with consumers.  Together, this new collective of health and wellness influencers is connecting with more and more clients in novel ways—and brands are recognizing their power.  

Pulse Health & Wellness’s HCPNetwork was an early example of this kind of collective—a place for healthcare professionals to opt-in to receive educational materials, samples and coupons provided by brands.

Relaunching as PulseConnect, this collective of health & wellness experts is expanding its focus and its membership. As a member of PulseConnect, you can receive high-quality, branded educational materials for yourself and your patients, including scientific backgrounders, patient handouts, teaching tools, samples, recipes and coupons.  Plus you will have the opportunity to provide insights and feedback to manufacturers through surveys and one-on-one interviews.

Healthy brands understand that a personal experience with a product and familiarity with its nutritional profile are what drive your recommendation. They know that you need to experience it yourself before you’re comfortable sending your clients in their direction.  In virtually every PulseConnect program,  there will  be special incentives for you to bring a product home and give it a try.  Of course, as you make your recommendations to patients and clients, you’ll have special offers for them too—in the form of samples, coupons, recipes and health & wellness tips.

Over the next few weeks, PulseConnect will be sharing case studies that demonstrate the power of the collective to consumers and influencers. For now, sign-up to be part of this exciting, dynamic collective and invite your friends/colleagues to join too!