The importance of communicating medical information to non-specialists
One of the goals of content marketing is to enhance patient and HCP understanding of the innovation a company brings to them and to underpin their ability to make informed decisions. Infographics are well-suited to present and communicate medical information quickly, clearly and effectively. Perceived as appealing and user-friendly content, they are associated with higher reader preference, making them more likely to be read by non-specialists. Suitably conceptualised, infographics make medical and scientific information more accessible to target audiences and can enhance audiences’ understanding and ability to make decisions.
A study on educational infographics and sun protection knowledge, for example, found that ‘skin cancer education through infographics demonstrated significant improvement in patient understanding of appropriate sunscreen usage and label interpretation.’ This helped with communicating medical information through the visual aspect of infographics.
Likewise, in a study on concussion knowledge, participants reported that infographics met their knowledge needs (91%) and provided them with new knowledge (87%). Significantly, 55% of participants also reported that they intended to use the infographics to educate others.
Communicating medical information through infographics
Microbide increases reputation and engagement among consumers, non-scientists, and potential investors with SciencePod produced infographics.
The following infographic for Microbide Ltd, a disinfectants delivery company, focuses on effectively communicating complex information related to hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). It combines a visual element with text and data. The visual is, of course, vital in communication but readability is important too. Readability here refers to a language that is both accessible and useful to a target audience. In this case, the target audience is policy makers.
Microbide turned to SciencePOD for a separate set of infographics. They wanted to publish certain of our scientific biocidal studies and data in a creative way to appeal to non-scientists. They reached out to SciencePOD to help us reach out to these new target audiences.
¨The experience was gentle, non-intrusive, and extremely helpful. The reaction to the published output continues to this day. So the result has paid back many more dividends than we could have imagined at the outset. We are now developing an educational programme for each of our product areas, and SciencePOD will play a critical role in this going forward.
– Mary G. Skelly, Chief Executive Officer, biotech company Microbide Ltd, Dublin, Ireland
SciencePOD delivers infographics for Elselvier’s new published research on rare disease
Another infographic example depicts the key findings from published new research on the rare disease Neimann-Pick disease. The infographic is aimed at a general audience. It was conceptualised and produced by a creative team with subject matter expertise and it was validated by specialists (the scientific researchers behind the published study).