Health education models for paediatric inpatients: The roadmap for success

Abstract

Healthcare professionals should take advantage of any opportunity to provide inpatients or outpatients with an educational experience to encourage children and parents/caretakers to see education as a positive experience. A successful educational production should be able to: 1) educate patients with different levels of literacy, education, and language proficiency; 2) compete with entertaining material by capturing viewers' attention; and 3) be in a high-quality digital format that can be presented in any hospital information technology system. Strategies for successful educational productions must consider the unique aspects of health education. Health education differs from traditional education in that it requires behavioural modification and knowledge acquisition. Therefore, a theoretical foundation must be considered during the design and production of the material. These strategies were used in an educational production which showed they can successfully compete for viewers' attention in the digital world. The material shown in a popular social media outlet seemed to compete successfully with popular entertainment productions directed to children/parents/educators. It is worthwhile to consider that success in preventive care and health education may require theoretical-based models of production. The possibilities for these types of presentations to be integrated into patient care systems are unlimited and should not be missed.