I am an OT and the author of books with hundreds of illustrated patient education handouts. Handouts that reinforce the patient’s therapy session. Handouts that help patients grow stronger and more independent between sessions. Handouts that help educate patients and caregivers alike.

I am asked, especially during the current boom in telehealth, are you going to do an online version of your books? Is there a way you could offer the handouts so they could be emailed patients? Could you design an online version to let therapists build custom handouts based on a patient or need?

Maybe. Online delivery of my handouts could provide some advantages and I do offer an ebook, but still I resist. Call me old fashioned, but I believe paper is the only way to go. Even my ebook is meant to be printed for patients.

Like journals, grocery lists and love letters, patient education handouts should be tangible and physical. They should be discussed with patients and explained. Notes should be made in the margins or portions highlighted. Physical handouts should be posted on the patient’s bulletin board or refrigerator as a daily reminder or for caregivers to read. Handing a patient a tangible resource also eliminates the risk that they can’t or won’t access an online resource.

So, maybe one day, I will take the Occupational Therapy Toolkit and the Physical Therapy Toolkit online, but for now I stand by my love of paper.