Hospitals and medical centers are institutions that people generally—fair or not—expect flawless results. From doctors’ intelligence to the diagnoses and procedures, individuals don’t want mistakes or unclear directions.
Likewise, people anticipate valid information and clarity when they visit your hospital’s website. If a prospective patient were to find your website peppered with inaccuracies or confusing directives, then how can they feel confident in the quality of your health services?
Listed below are a couple of common errors I have encountered while working on various hospital and medical center websites that, if remedied, will help to establish a positive reputation in the eyes of your online visitors.
Eliminate Unnecessary Medical Jargon
It is best to leave out unwarranted medical terms or phrases and use more common expressions for health conditions, especially if the subsequent sentences don’t explain them.
For example, there’s no need to say ‘acute myocardial infarction’ when ‘heart attack’ will do. If you choose to utilize medical terminology, then have a general term next to it in parenthesis or a brief explanation following the term to allow comprehension for the everyman.
Avoid Widespread Expressions
Perhaps this is more of a personal pet peeve, but does every hospital have state-of-the-art equipment and employ a highly specialized medical staff that’s second to none? Oh, I almost forgot that every hospital can cater to my unique needs. Really? What a glorious world we live in!
Statements like the ones mentioned above tend to be a little stale and really overdone. They might be true, but I think that you can personalize the message and make it your own. Don’t copy other hospitals’ websites, hire a custom writing service, do something to escape the robotic clichés that conform your site to all the others.
Helpful Grammar Tips
The following are some mistakes that are frequently found on websites that feature hospitals or medical centers:
- There is a hyphen in the phrase “…in our 100-bed facility.”
- In the phrase “long-term care” and “24-hour care,” there are hyphens as well.
- Remember that “the staff is great” and “the members of the staff are great.”
- The office, waiting room, cafeteria, or any other location should not be capitalized in a sentence.
- Use either “health care” (my preference) or “healthcare,” but not both. Choose one and use that spelling throughout the website.
Professionalism
Implementing the aforementioned suggestions should help make your website’s content more user-friendly, professional, and able to be prominent online when compared to your competition.
Luis D. Bonilla
luis@wordszilla.com
Wordszilla, LLC