Effective patient education can be categorized into five distinct areas, which together comprise a solid foundation of information for your patients.

1. The role of patient education is to favorably impact patient behavior, including compliance with short-term therapies, long-term management of chronic conditions and preventive lifestyle recommendations.
   
   
2. Creating effective patient education involves several essential steps, including talking with your patients and using a variety of educational materials.
   
   
3. There are numerous additional resources for your patients to access, which can aid them in learning about their condition.
   
   
4. There is a wide variety of Academy patient education products for you to share with your patients.
   
   
5. Lastly, the Academy has developed SmartSight, an initiative to assist your patients with low vision (visual acuities less than 20/40 or scotomas, field loss or contrast loss).