Patient-Centered Approach: Why Nurse-Authored Blogs are Dedicated to Patient Needs

Nurse writers create content with evidence-based research and high-quality information in a knowledgeable and trustworthy voice.

Promoting Patient Education and Empowerment

Nurse-authored blogs empower their readers to reach their health goals. Rigorous nursing programs and complex patient care experience forge the nurse writer’s clinical expertise and confident voice through the following:

• Instruction on how to sense changes in their health and when to communicate these changes to their healthcare providers
• A path to obtaining the care they need when they need it with patient prioritization tools to help avoid adverse outcomes
• Mindful understanding of patient values, resources, wellness, and lifestyles 
• Personal investment in optimal patient outcomes
• Anticipation and answering of patient questions

How Nurse-Authored Blog Posts Prioritize Patient Needs

Nurse writers inherently prioritize patient needs. Below are a few of the many ways nurse writers approach this position skillfully.

Addressing Generational Needs 

Nurse writers understand how to engage patients and their caregivers of various generations. They create multi-generational content by

• Tailoring education to the specific age group for optimal comprehension and outcomes
• Speaking with their audience in a manner that will gain their attention and trust
• Using words, format, and phrases that will resonate with their readers
• Understanding the risks unique to each generation
• Creating appropriate and attainable calls to action

For example, nurse writers help educate older adults that they are not “bothering” but are helping their doctors, nurses, and other providers give better care by asking questions and communicating their medical needs. 

Creating Attainable Calls to Action, Mindful of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Nurse writers create calls to action that are relevant, easily attainable, and manageable for a specific audience. They have a heightened awareness of the barriers to good health that patients from diverse backgrounds may encounter. Below are some examples of how nurse writers could address audience-specific issues:

• Acknowledging the fear of humiliation LGBTQIA+ community members may have in interacting with healthcare professionals through education on how to locate LGBTQIA+-friendly providers
• Educating marginalized patients with rare diseases, autoimmune syndrome, or cancer about the positive impact of asking their providers about clinical trials for their conditions and working with a research coordinator to overcome barriers to those trials
• Offering guidance for women on how to engage with easily accessible resources for early prenatal care to decrease maternal and neonatal mortality

Managing Health Literacy Across a Spectrum

The skilled nurse writer utilizes plain language that is compelling for all levels of health literacy. Low health literacy creates risk, and patients often cloak their lack of health literacy out of embarrassment. The nurse-authored blog post will present information in a simple, concise, clear, yet engaging manner.

Gaining Trust with Evidence-based Information

Evidence-based practice drives nursing care for optimal outcomes and risk avoidance. Nurse writers translate these core values into their content.

Below are some examples of the impact the evidence-based clinical expertise of a nurse writer can make:

• Cancer-care patients can feel less overwhelmed by their treatment and enjoy life more. They can avoid hospital admissions and treatment delays caused by cancer treatment side effects through effective and timely communication with their cancer team.
• A new parent can have the fears of caring for a new baby eased or understand the importance of calling their doctor with postpartum depression signs and symptoms.
• With a well-crafted article that is succinct yet an attention grabber, a college student can gain an in-depth understanding of how to take antibiotics for maximum effectiveness. They will learn the importance of preventing antibiotic resistance and how to avoid diarrhea—an inconvenient interruption to lectures and exams.

Understanding the High Stakes

Nurses work hard to avoid adverse outcomes due to a gap in patient knowledge. The stakes are high, possibly leading to life-threatening situations related to a lack of understanding. Nurse writers ensure patients and caregivers have the tools and expertise to prioritize their needs. They understand and explain the critical nature of calls to action for specific concerns, like the following:

• The need for immunotherapy patients to promptly report symptoms to avoid possible discontinuation of an effective treatment for a life-threatening condition or treat a life-threatening side effect
• The critical importance of prompt treatment of joint bleeds and frequent robust physical activity for those with bleeding disorders to avoid life-altering chronic joint pain
• Using population-specific motivators to have immediate evaluation of chest pain or other signs and symptoms of a heart attack
• The importance of strength and agility rehabilitation after a hospital stay to avoid life-altering falls

Nurses Create Credible, Human Content

The nurse writer can research and leverage audience characteristics to create content with a rich texture, a sense of empathy, and relevant calls to action for the intended audience. They can broaden research for audience characteristics with Artificial Intelligence (AI) through requests for population-specific barriers to and motivators for good health and healthcare.

For example, in a query made of an AI program for a specific city in the Western US, the program returned poor air quality, large swaths of distant rural areas, a lack of healthy food options in many portions of the city, and a significant non-English speaking population as barriers to healthcare or wellness. For motivators, the AI-generated insight included a culture of close-knit communities, a strong sense of family, and agricultural heritage. A nurse writer can pull from their experience to leverage these qualities to connect with their audience.

The need to verify AI-generated information highlights the nurse writer’s advantage over AI in crafting content. AI does not discern fact from fiction and can incorporate biases. Another advantage is that the nurse writer will weave the distinctly human art of clinical judgment through their content.

SEO-Friendly Nurse Writer Blog Posts

Nurse writers want the best for their clients and to get their relevant content into the world to enable improved patient outcomes. Accordingly, AI is a valuable SEO review tool with the vast and rapid net it casts for relevant information. Many experts praise AI for SEO. AI can rapidly identify keywords and phrases for a particular subject or topic of research when specifically asked to do so. Still, the keywords generated by AI require verification. Vetting can occur with a quick comparison to keyword search programs and comparison to the keywords and phrases often included in evidence-based research articles.  

Watch Your Audience Flourish and Grow with Nurse Writers

Nurse writers are personally invested in positive patient outcomes, providing attainable calls to action that align with patient traits. Patients will understand how to prioritize their needs through effective communication with their healthcare team and have a path to overcome their barriers to care. 

Nurse writers will add an engaging spin, offer compassion, and inspire patient empowerment through evidence-based information in an easy-to-read manner.

To see your brand and audience flourish and grow, hire vetted nurse writers through Write RN.

References

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Wayne, G., BSN, (2016, September 29). Knowledge deficit & patient education nursing diagnosis & care plan. Nurseslabs. https://nurseslabs.com/deficient-knowledge/

CalTech Faculty. (n.d.). Can we trust artificial intelligence? Caltech Science Exchange. Retrieved August 16, 2023, from https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/artificial-intelligence-research/trustworthy-ai

Hewitt, R. (2023, June 15). Using AI to transform nursing education. Daily Nurse. https://dailynurse.com/using-ai-to-transform-nursing-education/

University of Saint Augustine Health Sciences, (2020, August 19). The role of evidence-based practice in nursing. University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. https://www.usa.edu/blog/evidence-based-practice/

Umali, G. (2022). What is effective patient education? Psychiatric News, 57(02). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2022.2.30

Wayne, G. (2023, July 31). Knowledge deficit & patient education nursing care plan and management. Nurseslabs. https://nurseslabs.com/deficient-knowledge/