Expand Your CME Medical Writing Skills: Dual-Audience Strategies for Patient and Clinician Education

[00:00:00] Introduction to Dual Audience Writing

[00:00:00] What if every CME project you touch could also help a patient ask a better question, feel seen, and leave the clinic with clarity today, we're expanding your craft beyond clinician education into patient facing education that lives alongside it. Same topic, two audiences.

[00:00:18] One goal better care through better communication.

[00:00:21] I am your host, Alex Howson, and this is Write Medicine.

[00:00:29] Speaker: This season, we're working toward one outcome, helping you grow from order taker to trusted partner so you can thrive in continuing education with confidence, clarity, and craft.

[00:00:42] Subscribe and Share

[00:00:42] Speaker: So here's your invitation. First of all, subscribe to write Medicine so you don't miss an episode. Go to www.writemedicine.com.

[00:00:53] That's W-R-I-T-E, and click the follow tab to subscribe on your favorite listening [00:01:00] platform. Then second, share this episode with a colleague who's curious about CME writing. Third, if you want deeper resources, tools, and strategies, get on my newsletter at alex house.kit.com/newsletter. Yeah, I know that's a lot to remember and that's why you'll also find a link in the show notes.

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[00:01:24] Season Overview and Today's Focus

[00:01:24] In season 11 so far we've been building from Learning design with Sarah Atwood into freelance business Mindset with Hope Lafferty, and exploring the ways in which you think shapes the work you do and the content you create.

[00:01:39] Today, we flex that mindset into dual audience writing. So here's my question for you. How can you adapt your craft and creativity to write for both clinicians and patients without losing accuracy, empathy, or compliance? Stick with me to answer this question because by the end of the [00:02:00] episode, you'll be practicing a three sentence translation of a complex idea, which you can consider your on-air micro win.

[00:02:08] And by the way, here's what instructional designer Beth Watts had to say about

[00:02:13] episode 154 with Sarah Atwood. She said, Great job. I found a kindred spirit in Sarah. I don't know how many people or any really who found their way into medical education through instructional design. I loved it. Thanks for letting us know, Beth. We know that there's a small but growing community of instructional designers in continuing medical education, and of course, instructional design is something we talk about a lot in this field, so we need people like you.

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[00:02:45] The Importance of Patient-Facing Education

[00:02:45] Patient facing education inside CME isn't new, but it's becoming more central for at least a decade. Education providers like MEDLIFE and Med IQ have been tethering clinician and patient education activities. [00:03:00] Sometimes that means standalone patient modules, sometimes integrated curricula, sometimes patient tools bundled with clinician activities.

[00:03:11] The driver of this trend healthcare's 21st century shift toward patient-centered models where patients are active participants, not passive recipients of their care. Now for years, patient advocacy groups, employers, payers, and federal agencies have been calling for strategies that help patients engage with their care and education is one of the channels to support this engagement.

[00:03:40] Why? Because educated and engaged patients can ask sharper questions, share more accurate information with their healthcare providers. They're more motivated know about their medications and their medical history, to bring friends or relatives to appointments for support and to learn about care [00:04:00] that might be unnecessary.

[00:04:02] As I wrote in my book WriteCME Roadmap, this emphasis on patient facing education in the CME world has created new opportunities in dual audience writing for medical writers. Dual audience writing isn't an add-on, it's a craft shift. As a writer, you are building a bridge that helps clinicians practice empathy and patients feel dignity and clarity.

[00:04:28] Essentially patient facing education that includes elements like patient teachback prompts, and decision aids can be co-designed with clinician education to reinforce the same behavior.

[00:04:41] Change targets from two directions.

[00:04:44] Tactics for Effective Patient-Facing Education

[00:04:44] So let's dig into some tactics you can use to ensure your patient facing education meets the desired outcomes.

[00:04:54] Principles of Plain Language

[00:04:54] Plain language is up first. Plain language is a communication style that [00:05:00] aims to simplify complex information and make it more accessible to wider audiences.

[00:05:06] It involves using clear, concise, and jargon-free language to convey information in a way that's easily understood by the intended audience. Really the goal of plain language education is to eliminate confusion, improve comprehension, and enhance that communication flow between the sender and the receiver.

[00:05:30] Plain language simply focuses on questions like, can people find what they're looking for? Can they understand the information they find, and can they act on it? So say we're working on an education activity focused on hypertension management, we'd want to swap out clinical terms for common terms that patients are more likely to use in everyday speech.

[00:05:54] An obvious example here is using high blood pressure rather than hypertension. [00:06:00] We want to keep sentences short and use active voice. So instead of saying, this medication should be taken twice daily. We want to say things like Take this medicine twice a day. When we're applying plain language principles, we're breaking up content into small chunks with headings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and plenty of white space in particular.

[00:06:26] This makes digital content much more scannable. We're doing things like limiting sentences to no more than 14 words because long, complex sentences are harder for readers to process. And you might even use what Ben Riggs Health Communication Specialist at Kettering Health in Ohio calls the comma Mary test.

[00:06:48] Ben recommends putting Mary at the end of a statement, then read it out loud. If it doesn't sound right, it's probably too formal or too [00:07:00] stiff. So turn your word choice. Dial towards something less specialized, more conversational until it feels right. And if you'd like to hear more from Ben about the craft of writing, listen to episode 41 of The Write Medicine Podcast.

[00:07:15] To be clear, plain language doesn't mean dumbing down. You can still communicate sophisticated ideas clearly with smooth cadence and rhythm, as well as simplicity. We can use stories and analogies to explain complex medical concepts cleanly.

[00:07:33] And it's good for us to remember that we don't establish authority or build trust with patient audiences by making content complex. In fact, the opposite. Since clear communication builds trust and credibility, in short, plain language isn't simple thinking, it's precise thinking, made visible.

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[00:07:55] Health Literacy and Its Impact

[00:07:55] Now an appreciation for health literacy is vital when we're writing [00:08:00] dual facing educational content. That's educational content that is addressing both clinician and patient audiences on the same topic. Why? Because health literacy challenges are really common in the us. The Institute of Medicine defines health literacy as the ability to read, understand, and act on health information.

[00:08:23] But in fact, nine out of 10 adults in the US struggle to understand and use information. And most adults in the US read at about an eighth grade level and nearly one in five read at or below a fifth grade level of reading. Now these gaps create real consequences.

[00:08:42] Low health literacy can lead to misunderstandings of medical instructions, poorer decision making, and lead ultimately to poorer outcomes for patients and even patients who do have basic health literacy can struggle when faced with dense jargon, heavy [00:09:00] healthcare materials. Unfortunately, many patient education resources, including some that are CME linked, are written at levels far above what patients can comfortably process.

[00:09:11] So what does that mean for us as CME writers? It means designing for clarity from the start. That means plain language, yes. But also illustrations, graphics, and step-by-step visuals that support comprehension. It means tailoring materials for distinct patient populations, testing the readability, and evaluating whether the materials truly meet patients where they are.

[00:09:39] The bottom line here, patients overwhelmingly prefer information that's clear, concise, and easy to act on. And when we apply universal design principles, we can build accessibility into every word and visual from the beginning. So let's break down some of those principles.

[00:09:58] For patient facing [00:10:00] education, first is to organize content logically Because we want to present information in a way that everyone can understand. So we kind of touched on this a little bit in the context of plain language, but really we're breaking up content into small chunks, using headings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and plenty of white space.

[00:10:21] We want to make sure the headings and subheadings we do use, have descriptive titles like how to take your Medication and we want to be sure to prioritize key information, placing the most critical details first, and using bullet points for readability.

[00:10:39] The second thing for us to think about is readability. Readability is a measure of how easy a piece of text is to read. And readability formulas usually look at factors like sentence length, syllable density, typography, and word familiarity as part of their [00:11:00] calculations. So keep sentences short.

[00:11:03] Remember that multiple syllables, and there's two words with multiple syllables are hard to read, so aim for, you know, one to two syllables max, and aim for a reading level at or below fifth or sixth grade. The Flesch Kincade grade level test is a commonly used tool that tests for reading grade level, but there are other tools to test materials for readability as well. Like the simple measure of gobbledygook test, the SMOG test, or the Fry readability formula. Both of these were created in the 1960s for patient feedback. They're still relevant now, and you can listen to episode 109 of the podcast for more information on how to optimize your content for people with varying levels of health literacy and digital skills.

[00:11:52] Cultural Sensitivity in Patient Education

[00:11:52] A third principle in creating patient facing education in the context of continuing education for health [00:12:00] professionals is thinking about cultural sensitivity. And we can do this in a few ways. The first is to know your audience. We probably don't do enough deep audience analysis in continuing medical education, but this is essential when we're writing. For patients as well, we want to consider cultural norms, values and practices. For example, when we're talking about dietary changes, we want to make sure that any recommendations in the content align with common cultural foods and practices, and we want to understand patient demographics to make sure that our tone, our example, and our illustrations align with who they are.

[00:12:39] So we can do keyword research to understand which terminology your audience uses, and link our language to those search terms. We also want to think about inclusive language and avoid assumptions about gender, family structures, or health beliefs.

[00:12:58] And a third [00:13:00] tactic to ensure cultural sensitivity is content validation. Validating your content with the community that the patient facing education is trying to reach. There are different ways of doing this. Education providers more generally can engage community representatives and patient advocates in the development and review process to ensure accuracy and cultural appropriateness.

[00:13:26] Craft is about the choices we make. And creativity is about using those choices to make meaning.

[00:13:35] Creative Approaches to Patient Education

[00:13:44] So here are some other tactics to consider when designing and developing patient facing education In the context of CME. First, consider using comparative narratives. Show a scenario from the provider's perspective.

[00:13:50] Which they might see as a routine procedure, and then the patient's perspective, which might be more colored by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. [00:14:00] And this disconnect itself can help to teach empathy. Second use day in the life timelines. This is a useful tactic for revealing barriers like transportation, caregiving, or costs

[00:14:15] that very much shape how patients engage with healthcare and healthcare providers. Use micro stories, stories and analogies are powerful tools for explaining complex medical concepts plainly and making them relatable. Stories could be included in formats like graphic novels or comic strips or snippets of lived experience sprinkled throughout content in audio or video vignettes.

[00:14:43] A few years ago, I worked on a program that used qualitative research methods to evaluate the education impact on patients living with B-Cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The activity itself included videos of patients living with B-Cell Lymphoma who shared [00:15:00] different aspects of their experience as part of the education, and the interviewees told us that they felt these stories validated their experience because they provided a window into the real life lived experience of having B-cell, NHL.

[00:15:16] In contrast to what one interviewee called textbook science mumbo jumbo. These patient stories personalized learning since the participants could see themselves in the stories and were much more willing to learn from people who were actually going through what they were going through and knew what they were experiencing.

[00:15:38] And we all want the opportunity to see our own experiences reflected in any education we undertake, whether we are clinicians, patients, or CME professionals engaged in professional development. In fact, seeing our own experience reflected in education content is a key component of building perceived self-efficacy, [00:16:00] which is a fancy way of saying you believe in your capacity to take action in a particular way.

[00:16:07] And a final consideration

[00:16:09] when we're thinking about craft is to incorporate multimodal approaches to that content pairing text with diagrams, infographics, short subtitles, videos, or audio to reinforce understanding.

[00:16:24] As Karen Roy of Infograph Ed argues we can use step-by-step images for processes such as how to use an inhaler. And you can hear more about cultivating a visual mindset from Karen and her business partner, Bhaval Shah, in episode 31 of the Write Medicine Podcast.

[00:16:44] Conclusion and Action Steps

[00:16:44] So let's wrap up with three takeaways from today's episode.

[00:16:50] First, health Literacy is the baseline for patient facing education in the context of continuing education for health professionals. [00:17:00] Clarity isn't optional . It's essential for equity and outcomes. Second, the three sentence rule is a portable tool.

[00:17:10] Breaking a complex concept into what it is, why it matters, and what to do next makes your writing usable for patients and sharper for clinicians. And third, dual audience writing builds bridges. By writing for patients and clinicians Together, you're expanding your craft to create empathy, precision, and measurable impact.

[00:17:34] You can check out links in the show notes to explore plain language readability and universal design resources. But here's your action step. Take one complex concept from your current project and explain it in three sentences. Do it twice. Once for patients, once for clinicians. Then save both versions in a swipe file and notice how much more [00:18:00] accessible your writing becomes.

[00:18:03] You can grab a practice example from the show notes and for an added layer of challenge. Share your before and after version on LinkedIn. And tag me or the podcast.

[00:18:14] That way we can create a library of examples that show how CME writers are building clarity, trust, and creativity into their work.

[00:18:23] Next Episode Preview

[00:18:23] Next up on Write Medicine, our very first hot seat coaching episode, you'll meet a writer who's shifting from needs assessments to content and hear exactly how they're positioning themselves, refining their strategy, and taking their CME writing career to the next level.

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