Patient Education Strategies

A healthcare disparity is a limitation of healthcare availability, usually among a certain racial or socioeconomic demographic (Black, 2013). However, there are disparities that don’t have a specific demographic and affect the entirety of the United States, which are potentially most detrimental to the overall health of our country. One of those disparities is health literacy, or the exchange of complex information from the healthcare provider to the patient or client (Black, 2013). The lack of health literacy in America poses as a problem, especially with the chronically ill. Without proper knowledge of how to treat their illness and what to do when the disease process worsens or ameliorates can potentially cause millions of unnecessary hospitalizations,

As a health care provider, it is important to have an understanding of the most productive methods for patient education. Traditional methods of patient teaching has shown to not always be productive in instilling the knowledge that patients need to manage their illnesses. Electronic tablet-based patient education tools may be a more useful way of teaching self-management by providing patients with the instruments to improve management of chronic diseases. In this article, the challenges of implementation were stated so that health providers could be aware, moving forward, with technology advancement. Knowing the barriers of electronic tablet-based patient education allows appropriate planning, and preparation for a successful implementation in the clinical setting. There were no identifed weaknesses of this article; it is advantageous to all health care providers and

Upgrading our documentation to information and informatics comes with many advantages for the health care team to improve quality and safe ty improvement. Also, the use of technology such as telehealth, telenursing and videoconferencing are on the rise, and will be embedded into our communities and nursing organizations so that we can reach people around the country who do not have accessibility quality health care. Using technology to educate patients and families about credible websites, and how to search for pertinent information that is relevant to his or her health is a priority. The goal is to eliminate unnecessary emergency rooms visits. These actions foster communication and minimize anxiety

Chang, M., & Kelly, A. (2007). Patient Education: Addressing Cultural Diversity and Health Literacy Issues. 27(5), 411-417. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/564667

In 2010, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services crafted the nation’s 10 year health agenda. Healthy People 2020 outlines key objectives aimed at improving the standard of care health consumers receive by improving both the quality and format of health information offered to consumers as well as improving the consumers’ ability to obtain and process that information. These objectives included supporting shared decision-making between patients and providers, increasing health literacy skills, and delivering accurate, accessible, and usable health information that is targeted or tailored to the individual. (“Healthy People.gov” 2015)

As stated by Dr. Debra Patt from Texas Oncology “the educational content enhancements to My Care Plus will allow me to provide patient education more easily and help me to improve patient’s health literacy” (McKesson 2016). One unique feature to McKesson products, in particular to their oncology product, is that it provides patients with a unique outline of their diagnosis (McKesson 2016). This includes more information about their disease, medical reports, and what to expect throughout their treatment plan (McKesson 2016). It is evident that McKesson products are currently utilized to their fullest extent and among these resources is patient education. The establishment for a central location for patient data enables patient education to continue both inside the health care facility, as well as, at home. McKesson products recognize the need for health education and also recognize that education does not end at the physician office but is also

Teaching patients about their illnesses and how to prevent illness are essential components of patient self-care. However, we now understand that people have individual ways of learning and many factors can influence one’s ability and willingness to learn. As the healthcare professionals continue to explore new ways to improve the quality of healthcare, they must undoubtedly tailor interventions and educations programs to meet patient’s unique needs. Deborah Clayton studied the effectiveness of reducing HF readmissions through patient education activities and the use of critical thinking skills (2012). She endorses that transition of care programs should focus on stimulating self-care, helping patients recognize warning signs, and preventing hospital readmissions. Moreover, she promotes the use of cognitive aids such as handouts to help patients visually identify changes in their condition as well as diaries and logs help patients track symptoms and progress (Clayton, 2012). Finally, she supports the use of teaching techniques that require patients to recall information and perform “teach-backs” because they help ensure that patients fully comprehend information that has been taught (Clayton,

Article was written by people with extensive experience in health care, pediatrics, and public health. Jessica Anker, Lisa Kern, Erica Abramson, and Rainu Kaushal, all of them are members of Weil corner Medical College and Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative. The intended audience is members of health care system, health care providers, and professionals that are involved in patient care. This article discusses how health information technology (HIT) together with organizational structure and clinician involvement can improve care and safety of our patients. I think that this article is important for nursing practice, because it shows that HIT alone cannot improve quality care, but together with work of clinicians and communication

Develop teaching methods that will help patients and colleagues to learn about valuable technique for improving care.

Although teaching may be done first, last, or in the middle of patient care, teaching is a very important part of the nursing process. Teaching is important for the patient and family to understand the importance of their care, and it allows them to make an informed decision on the care they receive. To appropriately teach a patient we must look at the patient’s background, make a nursing diagnosis, develop behavioral objectives, outline the teaching plan, and evaluate the teaching’s effectiveness.

Three education materials were selected for further evaluation to identify its effectiveness in delivery patient education.

Two priorities for patient education are safety and pain management. For safety, she needs to understand that she is NPO, which means she cannot have anything by mouth, including foods, drinks, or medications. She also needs to understand that she is not supposed to pull out her foley catheter.

Information Technology allows health care providers to collect, store, retrieve and transfer information electronically. More specific discussion of IT in health care is challenging due to lack of specific definitions, the volume of applications and a rapid pace of change in technology. Information technology has the potential to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care. The health care system generally uses less IT than other industries. IT increases the ability of physicians, nurses, clinical technicians, and others to readily access and use the right information about their patients to Improve care. Studies have shown that better technologies leads to better care.

According to Healthy People 2012 there are more then 800,000 new cases of diabetes each year, with the numbers on the rise. With this in mind, Healthy People 2012 has identified diabetes as their number five focus area. In order to reach their goal of improving the quality of life for people with diabetes they have identified diabetes teaching as their number one objective. Furthermore, in order to reduce the number of complications of diabetes, Healthy People 2012 has identified foot ulcers as their ninth objective. Through patient education Healthy People 2012 hopes to reduce the number of foot ulcers in people with diabetes, as diabetes is the number one cause of nontraumatic amputations in the United States. In order to

Patient education plays a vital role in nursing, and as first year nursing students it is important to our career to develop skills in the process of teaching as well as developmental theories. To practice this teaching process, we conducted two interviews with a 19-year-old female currently in the early adulthood stage. Ghorbani, Soleimani, Zeinali and Davaji (2014) state that patient education has been shown to reduced anxiety of patients and improve the satisfaction of health care. Client education is also said to improve the quality of life, helps to reduce illness complications, maximize independence and ensures that continuity of care is present (Bastable, 2014). Although within the health care system things preventing or decreasing the effectiveness of patient education may include nurses not have the knowledge of what to teach or how to teach it and lack of time and resources (Ghorbani et al., 2014). To understand further the important of patient education we must possess a knowledge of the education process including assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation (APIE) (Bastable & Alt, 2014). Throughout this paper, we will evaluate our use of the educational process by teaching the learner about caffeine.