Preparing readable patient education handouts.

Printed health educational materials, such as patient information handouts, booklets, pamphlets, and information sheets are among the most common and extensively used teaching tools (Rankin & Stallings, 1996). In this article, the author reports (1) the readability of patient information handouts developed by the nursing division and (2) the effect on the patient-teaching task force members of instruction on the readability of patient information handouts at a 79-bed community hospital in Southern Ontario.