Laboratory Communications Toolkit

A Resource to Create
Meaningful Messages

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Table of Contents

Introduction...................….………………………………………………………………….….……..3

Clear Communication - Tools of the Trade...................….……………………………….….……..4

Laboratory Communication Planner Templates………………………………….……………....8

Know Your Target Audience………………………….……………….…………….........................9

Plain Language Tips………………………….…………………….……………….………….…....10

Design Feature Examples………………...….…………………….……………….………….…....14

Plain Language Checklist………………...….…………………….……………….………….…....18

Laboratory Communications Resources………………...….…………………….………….…....19

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Communicating complex laboratory information to various audiences, including
individuals who may not have a laboratory background, is challenging.

Clinical and public health laboratories can use this toolkit to translate complex information
into user-friendly messages for various audiences. The toolkit contains information on health
communication tools and plain language tips, as well as a Laboratory Communications
Planner Template, Plain Language Checklist, and additional resources to optimize
communication with your target audience.

This toolkit is based on the OneLab Webinar “Principles in Plain Language:

Communication for Laboratory Professionals” and reviews principles, tools, and resources
commonly used to develop plain language communications for various audiences. Review
your laboratory's communication policies and procedures for site-specific requirements.

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This list of tools and guided questions will help you create communication products
that translate complex technical information into meaningful messages for your
audience.

1. Define your Audience

Who are you talking to?

Identify the audience and its needs to increase the effectiveness of your
message. Use these questions to think more about your primary audience:
1. Who is the audience? Be specific.
Example: individuals who will be receiving their own test results
2. What is the primary goal of communication? What does the audience
need to know to reach the desired goal?
Example: to provide a contact number for testing inquiries
3. How should your audience feel after reading your material?
Example: clear on the next steps and empowered to take action

2. Craft your Content

What is the call to action or main message? What does the audience need
to know or do?

Begin your message with the most important information – the call to
action is the main takeaway for your audience.

Include a clear call to action. Identify who the message is for, state what they
need to do, and provide relevant details – for example, when, where, why,
and how to do it.

This should be no more than 1-3 sentences

Example: If you have questions after receiving your test results, call
000-000-0000. Assistance is available at this number M-F from 8 AM-8
PM EST.

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header

What is plain language?

Plain language is communication your audience can understand the first time
they read or hear it. It is clear, concise, well organized, and follows other best
practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience. The top
three plain language recommendations are to avoid technical jargon, spell out
acronyms, and organize information into chunks. The Plain Language Tips in the
next section provide more detail about this.

How does your audience prefer to receive information?

Where will they use the information?

Determine the channel (for example, social media, email, a website, or a

PowerPoint presentation) that your audience prefers to receive a particular kind
of information or content. Then format your content to ensure it is appropriate
for that channel and conveys the information effectively.

What message do you convey with your images?

Review images and words to confirm they are appropriate for the
audience. Images should help clarify abstract written concepts. Images can
include photos (stock and custom), graphics, 2D/3D illustrations, and GIFs
(animations or motion graphics). It is essential to confirm the images are
relevant to your topic and are at a high enough resolution to avoid any
image distortion.

Use stock photo libraries to find images to use in your materials. The CDC
Public Health Image Library (PHIL) found at is a free
resource that contains photos and illustrations to add to your message.

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6. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC)

How do you communicate the right message to the right person at the
right time during an emergency?

CDC's Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) program provides

training, tools, and resources to help health communicators, emergency
responders, and leaders of organizations communicate effectively during
emergencies. This is an excellent resource for new and seasoned
communicators alike. For more information on CERC, visit
www.emergency.cdc.gov/cerc.

How do you build a relationship with patients and partners?

Applying a customer service approach to communications helps build and
maintain rapport.

Remember to
1. Respond in a timely manner
2. Use a professional tone
3. Maintain transparency
4. Have additional references or sources available to share for
more information

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 Resources

Use these simple, actionable recommendations to develop a strategy for meaningful, user-
friendly communication with your target audience.

Review the Principles in Plain Language: Communication for Laboratory Professionals

presentation for more information.

Laboratory Communication Planner Template

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Laboratory Communication Planner Template

Use the template below to create new communication products for various audiences.

Laboratory XXX

Name of Project Lead

Product Title

Start Date

Project Approved By

Communication Goal What is the desired result?

Target Audience Who will use this product or perform the desired action?

Main Message What does the audience need to know or do?

Communication Channel Which communication channels do your target audience prefer? How do they
typically use these channels? For example, will this be shared as a printed
document by mail, a virtual document by email, communicated over the
phone, using social media, or shared on the laboratory's website?

Format Print ☐ Electronic ☐

Distribution In-Person ☐ Mail ☐ Email ☐ Presentation ☐

Preference
Social Media ☐ Over the Phone ☐ Organization Website ☐

What graphics would help your audience better understand the message?
Key Graphics

What resources (for example, animations, graphics, tables) can you use to help
convey the message to your audience and achieve the desired result?
Additional Resources

When will you share the communication? Is there a new policy, procedure,
Expected Release Date guideline, or requirement that will affect when the audience receives this
message?

Approval Route Who needs to approve this message before sending to the desired audience?
(e.g., supervisor, manager, laboratory director, etc.)

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Here are some additional questions and other considerations that can help you tailor your
message to your target audience and address their needs.

What questions and concerns might your audience have about the topic?

What are some things that could affect their ability to process your messages?
Could any of them have limited reading skills or difficulty reading or
speaking English?

Could any of them have limited technical/scientific knowledge or low

health literacy?

What else might make it hard for them to process or

understand your message?

Identify just one purpose. For example, your purpose might be one of the
following:

o To motivate your audience to get tested for .

o To help them understand the testing process of _______________________.
o To help them understand test results: positive, negative,
and inconclusive.

What do you want your audience to think, feel, or do after hearing or reading
your message?
o Examples: Think about getting tested for .
Feel less afraid to get tested.
Get tested.

What might motivate them to do what you want them to do?

What might discourage them?

In 1-3 sentences, describe the most important thing you want your audience to
remember after they hear or read your message.

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 Use plain language so that your audience understands the message the first
time they hear or see it.

Plain language is helpful because it

• Encourages adoption of new behaviors
• Decreases misinterpretation of information

In this section, we share plain language principles and provide examples of

each one.

It's important to use language your audience understands. Use common, everyday words to
make your message clear.

Before:
Based on the information we have to date, the incubation period for Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome (MERS) — the time between when a person is exposed to MERS and when they
start to have symptoms — is 2-14 days.

After:
After the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) enters a person's body,
it takes 2 to 14 days for that person to show the first signs of being sick, based on what we
currently know so far about the disease.

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Define acronyms

Limit the use of acronyms in your writing and instead spell the words out if they will only
be used once. If you must use acronyms, define them.

Before:
POC testing involves performing a diagnostic test at or near the point of care, often away
from a laboratory. POC tests can produce rapid and reliable results to aid in identifying or
managing chronic diseases and acute infections.

After:
Point-of-care (POC) testing involves performing a diagnostic test at or near the point of
care, often away from a laboratory. POC tests can produce rapid and reliable results to
help identify or manage chronic diseases and acute infections.

Use logical organization

The information in the message needs to follow a clear flow or process. If you are
communicating about a series of steps, present them in order.
Before:
If your hands have been exposed to blood or body fluids, rinse hands thoroughly and dry
with disposable towels, wet hands with warm running water, use a disposable towel to
turn off the faucet, and apply soap and water liberally and vigorously scrub all surfaces of
hands and fingers.

After:
If your hands have been exposed to blood or body fluids:
1. Wet hands with warm running water.
2. Apply soap and water liberally and vigorously scrub all surfaces of
hands and fingers.
3. Rinse hands thoroughly and dry with disposable towels.
4. Use a disposable towel to turn off the faucet.

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Use short sentences to improve message clarity and reduce the possibility of overwhelming the
reader with too much information.

Before:
It is important for healthcare providers and testing personnel to understand the
performance characteristics, including sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative
predictive values, of the antigen test being used, and to follow the manufacturer's
instructions for use, which summarize performance characteristics.

After:
It is important for healthcare providers and testing personnel to understand the
performance characteristics of the antigen test they are using. Examples of performance
characteristics include sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values.
Providers and testing personnel should follow the manufacturer's instructions for use,
which summarize these performance characteristics.

A noun string — using several nouns in a row — can make information difficult for the
reader to interpret. Reword sentences with noun strings to create a clear message your
reader can easily interpret.

We used a sensitive protein function monitoring system.

We used a system to monitor the function of sensitive proteins.

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A preposition is a word that modifies a noun, adjective, or verb. Prepositions often express
a relationship in time or space. In, on, to, of, since, and by are examples of common
prepositions. Choose the correct prepositions to help ensure you communicate the right
message.

These are general batch testing tips on various COVID-19 tests.

These are general batch testing tips for various COVID-19 tests.

Hidden verbs are actions turned into nouns. Hidden verbs make sentences longer than
necessary and make information difficult to interpret.

Before:
We must undertake the calculation of new figures for the laboratory report.

After:
We must calculate new figures for the laboratory report.

Sentences written using passive voice might leave readers wondering who performed the action.
Use active voice, where the subject of the sentence does something.

The specimen was contaminated.

A laboratory technician inadvertently contaminated the specimen.

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Instead of using long blocks of text in your writing, use easy to read design features such as:
• Headings
• Short paragraphs (chunking) and white space
• Tables
• Bulleted lists using a parallel structure (see the Design Feature Examples section below
for a definition)

The following section will provide examples of how each design feature can create clear
messages for your audience.

Below are some examples of design features that help emphasize and clarify the intended

Headings organize information and communicate the main subject of your text. Both
headings and sub-headings help readers identify what topic(s) are contained within the
content. In the example below, the heading helps the reader identify that the included
information is related to certification statements.

Example:

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2. Short paragraphs (chunking) and white space

Divide text into short paragraphs. Too much text creates a "wall of words" that is hard to
read. Long sections with no white space make your content hard to understand.

Before:
The paragraph below contains too many sentences and is hard to read. There is no white
space or sub-headings to separate the topics.

After:
To make this easier for the reader to understand, divide this text into short paragraphs and
add sub-headings. The white space between each paragraph also makes the text easier to
read.

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Use tables when you have a lot of comparisons or if-then statements.

Before:
Because colds and flu share many symptoms, it can be difficult (or even impossible) to tell the
difference between them based on symptoms alone. Special tests can tell if a person is
sick with flu. You should look out for signs and symptoms to determine if you have a cold or
the flu. The symptoms of flu can include fever or feeling feverish/chills, cough, sore throat,
runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, and fatigue (tiredness). Cold
symptoms are usually milder than the symptoms of flu and typically do not include fever.
People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose. Colds generally do not
result in serious health problems.

After:

Graphic can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/coldflu.htm.

When using a bulleted list, provide a lead-in sentence first. Use parallel construction to
develop the list. Parallel construction means every item in the list should start with the same
part of speech, and the lead in-sentence should form a complete sentence when read with
each item in the bulleted list.

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 Those at higher risk for severe illness include:

People who have severe underlying medical conditions

If you are immunocompromised

Those at higher risk for severe illness include:

People who are age 65 or older
People who have severe underlying medical conditions
People who are immunocompromised

Summary

The words and formats you choose can influence whether your messages are user-friendly.
Apply these plain language principles to help your audience understand your message the
first time.

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Plain Language Checklist

Use this checklist to develop messages your audience can understand the first time.

□ Use common, everyday words

□ Define acronyms
□ Organize content based on a process or logical flow
□ Streamline information into short, clear sentences
□ Avoid noun strings
□ Use appropriate prepositions
□ Avoid hidden verbs
□ Use active voice
□ Chunk information by subject matter or topic
□ Use relevant headings and sub-headings
□ Use white space, tables, bullets, and/or numbered lists as needed

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Principles in Plain Language: Communication for Laboratory Professionals
Presentation designed to equip laboratory professional with information to build their
own communication toolkits.
https://www.cdc.gov/labtraining/onelab/docs/8.26.2021_OneLab-Network-Event_Slides.pdf

Example Materials
Before and after examples of materials scored and updated using the Clear
Communication Index.
https://www.cdc.gov/ccindex/examplematerial/index.html

The CDC Clear Communication Index

The CDC Clear Communication Index website contains tools and other resources to help
you develop and assess public communication materials.
https://www.cdc.gov/ccindex/index.html

Gateway to Health Communication

This is a one-stop shop for health communicators.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/index.html

Health Literacy
This site is for health communicators, public health professionals, and community
leaders who seek information and tools on health literacy research, practice, and evaluation.
www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy

Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC)

CDC's Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) provides training, tools, and
resources from lessons learned during past public health emergencies and research in
the fields of public health, psychology, and emergency risk communication.
https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/index.asp

CDC Public Health Image Library {PHIL)

The website contains a search engine for photos related to public health.
https://phil.cdc.gov/

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Everyday Words for Public Health Communication
A thesaurus for public health terms.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/everydaywords/index.html

Plain Language Medical Dictionary

A plain language dictionary created by the University of
Michigan. https://apps.lib.umich.edu/medical-dictionary/

Simply Put
A guide for creating easy-to-understand materials.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/pdf/simply_put.pdf

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