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ME/CFS patient poster for doctors

Messages
10
Following the patient brochure that was posted a couple of days ago, this is a poster we developed that is aimed at health professionals.

Once again, we are not performing research, gathering data or medical information. We don’t want individuals to complete any questionnaires. We are only seeking constructive comments both positive and negative.

A lot of the information is similar to the patient brochure, with some extra depth and evidence added.

Thank you,

mecfs352352
Screen Shot 2022-05-27 at 2.21.05 am.png
 

Woof!

Senior Member
Messages
523
I'd remove sentences 2. 4 and 6 (plus the word "However") under MANAGEMENT, to be more to-the-point and concise, but that's me.

Thank you for your efforts.
 

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,378
Bullets instead of sentences?

Label on Drawing: what is meant by unable to tolerate a posterior position?

Air hunger is a common symptom and not related to lungs or breathing per se.


( I now realize I cannot even read the actual font of the text)...so I cannot comment further.
 

wabi-sabi

Senior Member
Messages
1,484
Location
small town midwest
Doctors with ME has a really good explanatory poster here:
https://doctorswith.me/home/what-is-me/

While I understand you can't just copy theirs, you might try something more similar. You might also ask their permission to use it in your organization.

Some thoughts:
1) Your poster is very busy and overcrowded with text. It needs to have fewer words for ease of reading. As @Rufous McKinney says, the text is so small some of us can't read it. That's not want you want in a quick access document. Focus on the main point you want to get across.
2) You have two symptom sections, one in text and one in image. Choose one of the other. This will clean it up visually and focus your point. The text symptoms section confuses fatigue and PEM. These are the two most important concepts you need to get across to docs.
3) that inability to tolerate a posterior position. You are trying to describe orthostatic intolerance, so just say orthostatic intolerance. A medical person will know what this is. OK, snarky here, but we can tolerate a posterior position just fine-sitting down isn't the problem. the problem is standing up!
4) Your management section doesn't make sense. First sentence says CBT/GET and second sentence says nevermind, not CBT/GET. We understand what you are trying to say, but an uniformed doc won't. You will just come across as confused. You might say something like, in the past CBT/GET was recommended in the past. However, current guidelines and research show this is ineffective and potentially harmful.
5))
Diagnosis section is a total mashup. You need to explain how to use the diagnostic criteria. Again, look at Doctors with ME for guidance. link here: https://doctorswith.me/nice-gp-update/

You are doing a worthwhile project. Just keep editing!
 

wabi-sabi

Senior Member
Messages
1,484
Location
small town midwest
One other thought- your management section doesn't include pacing, which is the most (!) important treatment for all of us. Also don't say "introduce a healthy diet". Most of us eat as healthy as we can afford to and saying it like this will imply to docs that we are unhealthy because we ate wrong or that the condition is manageable through diet. Neither of these is true. Instead it would be true to say "treat common commorbidities like GERD, gastroparesis, and IBS" or "assess patient's ability to access healthy food, bearing in mind some patients may be too ill to shop, cook, or eat independently". You do well to mention that ME/CFS is lifelong for most people and that treatment is symptomatic.

Your QOL section is good. There is a reference in there you need to fix-the one that just says (reference 2009). Author?

References at the bottom don't seem to be complete, or maybe the font is just too small to be legible.