Creating a patient educational pamphlet for brain attack

Many different types of educational materials are used by health care providers to enhance the teaching process in our current health care arena. Persons require simplified information about risk factors and prevention of risks to decrease the incidence and severity of brain attack or stroke. The signs and symptoms of brain attack also need to be emphasized in order that persons will seek emergency help as soon as possible should these symptoms occur.

A patient education pamphlet was created for use in a northwestern Pennsylvania medical center. The pamphlet was designed to teach persons about risk factors for brain attack and that brain attack is a medical emergency. The pamphlet included what occurs in the brain during a brain attack, the risk factors for brain attack, a brain attack prevention plan, how to reduce the risk for brain attack, and the signs and symptoms of brain attack. The McLaughlin (1969) SMOG readability formula was used to write the pamphlet at the eighth grade reading level. The Evaluating Printed Education Materials Model (Bernier & Yasko, 1991) was used to develop the pamphlet. Dorothea Orem’s (1995) Self-care Deficit Theory served as the theoretical framework for this scholarly project.