“Tracheotomy,” “dysphagia,”, “cervical cytology”. Safe to say that this medical world of ours is FILLED with jargon.
Medical words and terms, of course, have their place. But our familiarity with this world can also mean that med-jargon often leaks into patient comms – on websites, in leaflets and on display for all to see.
Today we want to walk you through reviewing your website and re-thinking its approach, so that it serves ALL as well as it can – whether retired neurologist or angsty teen trying to book their first appointment.
1) Your patients are impatient, give them the info they need quick-fast
55% of your website visitors spend 15 seconds or less on your pages. They expect the information they need almost immediately, with minimum clicking or scrolling.
This calls for a clever, well-thought out strategy as to where you place information on each page. It also means that big bold headlines are critical for the majority of visitors who’ll scan a page before picking where to begin.
Making a page scan-friendly also calls for white space, bulleted/numbers/lists where appropriate and the use of imagery where helpful.
Most practice websites we work on these days are of the ‘templated variety’ with more headings than anyone knows what to do with. Strip back what you get ‘out of the box’, remove the pages and headings you don’t need and start with your list of pages that patients need, not theirs.
2) Make it real
Do away with the abstract concepts and high-level talk. Instead of talking about patients and clinical services, make it relatable and relevant.
old version e.g. “Cervical cytology appointments are bookable on Wednesday – Friday only.”
real version e.g. “Book a smear test with Julie our practice nurse on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.”
Keeping it real also means including real people, first names and imagery; include quotes from your team members, patient case studies and photos from your surgery rather than those awful stock images that scream ‘couldn’t be bothered’.
3) Keep it short and simple
The average website visitor in the UK has a reading age of just 9 years old, which means that short, snappy sentences aren’t only good practice, they’re essential for reader understanding.
Keep sentences to between 10 – 15 words, and paragraphs to 35 words or fewer. Sticking to these bite-size sentence and paragraph lengths will also play well with mobile devices which the majority of people access the internet with these days.
You can check the readability of your text using the following tools:
4) Must include medical terms? Include easy explainers
Let’s be honest, there will be some places where you simply can’t avoid medical terminology, and in other places, it simply won’t make sense to anyway.
Don’t go too far to replace medical terms if it means one word is replaced by ten. There’s a balance to be struck between jargon and conciseness. If in doubt, check nhs.uk and how they word it.
5) Don’t go overboard with paragraph styling
Do you see how distracting THIS is? Like this, this and this, capitalising, underlining, bolding and italicizing should be used sparingly (if at all), as it usually only ends up distracting your reader
6) Replace the stiff, corporate talk with personality and warmth
Creating a warm, welcoming website can be as simple as swapping your writing perspective from third person to first and addressing your reader directly.
Rather than using the name of your surgery, use ‘we’. And when referring to ‘service users’ or ‘patients’, use ‘you’. You’ll instantly see the change in mood by applying this to your home page, I promise you.
7) Empower those with disabilities
70% of UK websites aren’t compliant with accessibility laws. How depressing. And while there are no official stats on doctors’ surgeries and NHS websites, we can take an educated guess that they likely reflect this figure there or thereabouts.
The accessibility guidelines don’t make for light reading, but if you really want to pick through the rules and regs of accessibility in full, you can find them right here. You can also make a good start by checking some of these published tips for designing an accessible website. If in doubt or you’re thinking your site needs a full overhaul by the pros, you know where we are!
Designing for… those on the autistic spectrum
| Do… | Don’t… |
| Use alt tags to describe images and videos | Only include information in image or video |
| Use a clear, logical layout | Place content all over the page |
| Use HTML5 tags to mark your content | Rely on text size and placement for structure |
| Design for keyboard and mouse use only | Force users to rely on mouse or screen |
| Ensure your links and headings are useful | Use uninformative links and headings |
Designing for… low vision
| Do… | Don’t… |
| Use colours that contrast (black/white – white/green) | Opt for low colour contrast |
| Use large font sizes | Use small font sizes |
| Include all information on your web pages | Place information only available by download |
| Use colours, shapes and text to convey meaning | Use colour alone to convey meaning |
| Place buttons close to relevant elements | Position forms/boxes far away from buttons |
Designing for… those with dyslexia
| Do… | Don’t… |
| Use images, graphs and diagrams to support text | Opt for large blocks of text |
| Align text to the left | Use centre-aligned text |
| Use plain text, apart from in heading | Use bolding, underline, capitals or italics |
| Produce content in multiple forms, e.g. audio, video and text | Use text alone |
| Keep your content as concise as possible | Use jargon and technical terms |
| Provide auto-spell prompts for forms | Use any more form fields that you need |
| Allow users to pick their own colour contrast |
Designing for… those with physical of motor disabilities
| Do… | Don’t… |
| Use large clickable buttons | Use small elements such as checkboxes |
| Provide sufficient space between form fields | Cram form fields in close together |
| Make all content access by the tab key | Use content that requires mouse work |
| Design for mobile and touchscreen | Have session time outs |
| Offer shortcuts | Require tonnes of typing and scrolling |
Designing for… those who are deaf or hard of hearing
| Do… | Don’t… |
| Use simple English | Use complex words and jargon |
| Add subtitles and transcripts to videos | Provide content in only audio or video |
| Follow a linear layout | Use complex layouts and menus (such as scroll) |
| Use headings, sub-headings, images and videos | Use big blocks of text |
| Allow users to easily request interpreter appointments | Provide only telephone as a point of contact |
Author: Kara Skehan (Yorkshire Medical Marketing) – Front-line friend to primary care. Champion of common sense and ‘reyt’ simple words. Kara is a healthcare marketing specialist living and working in Yorkshire.
—–
Topics trending in the forum:
Complaint from staff member
How do pharmacies get their flu vaccines earlier?
Flu vaccine delivery disaster…
Keeping up morale
When is enough enough? And when to carry on?
0 Comments