Patient Education

Purposes of Patient Education  Help individuals, families, or communities achieve optimal levels of health  Reduces health care costs  Patients know more about their health and want to be involved  3 Important Purposes

Maintenance and Promotion of Health  In the school, home, clinic, or workplace – provide information/skills that enable patients to assume healthier behaviors  Ex: Childbearing Class – after a class, a expecting mom may apply her new knowledge by eating healthier and avoids substances that can harm the fetus  Allows patients to assume more responsibility for their health

Maintenance and Promotion of Health  Greater knowledge = better health maintenance  When patients are more health conscience, they are more likely to seek early diagnosis of health problems

Restoration of Health  Injured or ill patients need information and skills to help them regain their previous level of health  Patients recovering and adapting to changes often seek info about their condition  Some may become passive and uninterested in learning

Coping With Impaired Function  Not all patients fully recover  New knowledge and skills are necessary to continue ADLs  Ex: Pt looses ability to speak after larynx surgery  The family’s ability to be supportive starts with education

The Speak Up Initiative  Helps patients understand their rights – greater chance of getting the care they need, when they need it  S – Speak up if you have questions  P – Pay attention to the care you get  E – Educate yourself about your illness  A – Ask a family member or friend to be your advocate  K – Know which medications you take and why  U – Use a hospital that has been carefully evaluated  P – Participate in all decisions of your treatment

Cognitive Learning  Includes all intellectual behaviors and requires thinking  Knowledge : Learning new facts and being able to recall them  Comprehension : Ability to understand meaning of learned material  Application : Using abstract, newly learned ideas in a concrete situation  Analysis : Breaking down organized information into organized parts  Synthesis : Apply knowledge and skills to produce a new whole  Evaluation : Judgement of the worth of a body of information for a given purpose

Affective Learning  Deals with expression of feelings and acceptance of attitudes  Receiving: Being willing to attend to another person’s words  Responding: Active participation through listening and reacting verbally and non verbally  Valuing: Attaching worth to an object or behavior demonstrated by the learner’s behavior  Organizing: Developing a value system by organizing values and resolving conflicts  Characterizing: Acting and responding with a consistent value system

Psychomotor Learning  Involves acquiring skills that require the integration of mental and muscular activity  Walking  Using utensils

Developmental Capacity Strategies  Infant  Keep routines consistent  Hold infant firmly while smiling and speaking softly = trust  Have infant touch different textures (soft fabric, hard plastic)  Toddler  Use play to teach procedure or activity (handling exam equipment, doing action to a doll)  Offer picture books that story of children in hospital  Use simple words, cut > laceration

Developmental Capacity Strategies  Preschooler  Use role play, imitation and play to make learning fun  Encourage questions and offer explanations  Encourage children to learn together through pictures or short stories about how to perform hygiene  School-Age Child  Teach psychomotor skills needed to maintain health  Offer opportunities to discuss health problems and answer questions

Developmental Capacity Strategies  Adolescent  Help adolescent learn about feelings and need for self-expression  Use teaching as collaborative activity  Allow adolescents to make decisions about health and health promotion  Use problem solving to help make safe choices  Young/Middle Adult  Encourage participation in a teaching plan by setting mutual goals  Encourage independent learning  Offer information so adult understands effects of health problem

Developmental Capacity Strategies  Older Adult  Teach when patient is alert and rested  Involve adult in discussion or activity  Focus on wellness and person’s strength  Use approaches that enhance sensorially impaired patient’s reception of stimuli  Keep teaching sessions short

Assessment Questions  Learning Needs  What do you know about ______________?  What do you know about your illness/treatment plan?  Together we can choose the best way for you to learn about your disease. How can I help you?

Assessment Questions  Self-Management  How does your illness affect your current lifestyle?  How involved do you want a family member to be in the management of your illness?  Which barriers currently exist that prevent you from managing your illness the way you would like to manage it?  Cultural and Spiritual Influences  Which cultural/spiritual beliefs do you have regarding your illness and prescribed treatment?

Assessment Questions  For Family Caregivers  When are you available to help, and how do you plan to help your loved one?  Your spouse needs some help. How do you feel about learning how to assist him/her?  Tell me how you feel about performing the care activities that your family member requires.

You are caring for Bob…  A 47 year old patient with type 1 diabetes who is having difficulty following a complicated medication schedule at home. He needs to take different medications, including insulin injections, several times a day. During your assessment, you find he has difficulty understanding printed teaching sheets. He admits, “I had to drop out of school when I was in 8 th grade, and my vison is not as good as it used to be.” What additional assessment questions and teaching strategies, approaches, and tools do you use to enhance Bob’s learning and ability to take his medications as ordered?