Homework Activity- "What is 'Open Heart Surgery'?"

Analysis of a Medical Document 

What is the origin of the document?

To inform people what open heart surgery really is and answer the question without having to ask the doctor.

What impact should the document have?

The impact of this document should be informational and define, in simple terms, what open heart surgery is as quickly as possible. After reading this, people should feel comfortable about the information and feel informed.

Who are the readers of the document? What is their previous knowledge? What is their emotional state?

The readers of this document are patients and family members of patients. Most of these readers will have little to no previous knowledge of open heart surgery, unless they themselves have gone through it. They will have a high emotional state and want to be calmed through information.

What will the readers use the document for?

The readers will use the document to make sense of the procedure they are going through and to help them understand what the doctor is talking about.

What cultures might the readers belong to that might affect the document’s interpretation?

Cultures that do not think asking questions is respectful would find this document aggravating because it does not truly inform the reader of anything and then they would get frustrated because they would not understand the doctor.

What accessibility issues might the document have?

The document is not very large font for people that wear glasses or cannot see very well. Because it is also written, the blind cannot be informed. For readers who are not proficient in reading, they would struggle with the vocabulary and back and forth between professional and relaxed tone.

What constraints do you think there are on development and production?

I think it would be hard to always print out the most up to date information because of cost and time. It would also be hard to print this on a smaller scale because there’s a lot of information.

If you were the document’s editor, how would you revise it? Could you cut it down to one sentence?

If I were the editor, I would bullet point the information and bold the terms with unbolded definitions to follow. I would use a list format for easy reading and while one sentence would not be enough, I would cut this 2 page document down to postcard size.