The Effectiveness of Waiting Room Notice-Boards as a Vehicle for Health Education

Abstract

To determine whether patients read and remembered health promotion messages displayed in waiting rooms, 600 patients in a UK general practice were given a self-complete questionnaire. Two notice-boards carried between 1 to 4 topics over four study periods. Three-hundred and twenty-seven (55%) of subjects responded. Twenty-two per cent recalled at least one topic. Increasing the number of topics did not increase the overall impact of the notice-boards. The numbers of patients recalling a topic remained constant, but increasing the number of topics reduced the number remembering each individual topic. Patients aged over 60 years were less likely to recall topics, but waiting time, gender and health professional seen had no effect on results. Very few patients (< 10%) read or took health promotion leaflets. These results suggest that the role of waiting room notice-boards should be reassessed. More modern methods of communication such as electronic notice-boards or videos could be used. However, the waiting room might best function not as an area where a captive audience can be bombarded with health promotion messages, but rather as a place for relaxation before consulting a health professional, making patients more receptive to health advice in the consultation.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of posters to provide information to patients about a DNA database and their opportunity to opt out

“…However, 25% reported that the posters raised more questions than they answered. Contrasting with the two studies above, Wicke et al (1994) found that only 22% of patients at a rural practice recalled at least one general health topic posted on a notice board display, and less than 10% of patients read or picked up health leaflets. In addition, Ashe et al (2006) found that educational posters had no significant impact on target health behavior (antibiotic overuse).…”

Brief Approaches to Educating Patients and Parents in Primary Care

“…One study showed that in the United Kingdom, adult patients rarely read or took home information handouts left in waiting areas, although they were found to read and recall short messages on waiting room bulletin boards. 46 In a related study, information handouts sent through the mail in conjunction with a media campaign (to reduce risk for malignant melanoma) were more effective than were informational handouts mailed alone. 47 This suggests that patient awareness of and interest in a particular topic is essential for handouts to be effective teaching tools, emphasizing the concept of a teachable moment.…”

Waiting Room Education in a Community Health System: Provider Perceptions and Suggestions

“…Printed educational materials are commonly offered in waiting rooms, but their efficacy has been shown in studies to be highly variable, and dependent upon the specific contexts, populations, and formats involved [10,13,21]. Beyond printed materials, there has been a lack of innovative approaches to education in the waiting room that both robustly utilize available technologies and also attempt to reach underserved groups [9].…”