Communication Challenges for Telehealth Providers

Effective and understandable communications with older patients and their family caregivers is the key to selling remote patient monitoring systems. Enabling the elderly patient to adapt to medicinal regimens, use reminder systems and memory prompts is a function of effective communications that creates comprehension and memory recall for a distinctively different generation.

Marketing and instructional communications teams, copywriters, designers are young or younger perhaps 30, 40 and even 50 years younger than the elderly population they are targeting. Why would anyone expect a 25 or 30 year old copywriter or graphic designer to know how to talk to a 60-, 70- or 80-year old?

And beyond the age difference is the technical nature of the content. Concepts and language that are second nature to those in the medical health technology business may be so much more difficult for older patients unfamiliar with the remote patient monitoring systems.

Communications professionals need to understand how older adults take-in and process information and how they make decisions -- and how that is different than their own contemporaries. Further, they need to learn about the barriers to learning that affect older adults -- and how to overcome them. Among the solutions are using analogies, story-telling and visual imagery because, with age, we become more responsive, recall and remember through right-brained communications.

Successful system implementation depends on communicating effectively with patients and their family caregivers, likely a spouse or partner. Helping people of age maintain control and empowerment are part of their perceived independence.

Physical and psychological changes occurring in the natural aging process make older patients different than younger ones. Changes with age include decreased capability of biological systems, slower metabolism and slowed central nervous system affecting the patient communication process.

50-Plus Communications Consulting has created training for those specializing in creative effective marketing and instructional communications with older adults. The training provides practical communications techniques for overcoming physical changes occurring with customers as they age.

For my workshop training program outline, contact me at mps50plus.com.

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