Patient Education

Patient education is a process where health care providers teach patients about their health to help them understand their condition in a better way. Patients can get their education in either non-health or health environments and in a non-formal or formal manner. The overall goal of giving patients health education is to help improve individual health and also enhance the performance of the healthcare industry.

What are the Benefits of Patient Education?

1.       Improve patient’s understanding

Getting a routing medical advice from your doctor or nurse ensures that you remain well-informed about your overall own health. Such medical advice includes:

·         Teaching them about the side effects of the conditions they are suffering from and how they can reduce the symptoms

·         Discuss the diagnosis of these conditions

·         Discuss about possible treatment options

This level of understanding can help reduce patient’s anxiety and as well build trust between health care providers and their patients.

Increased understanding can as well put patients in a good position to make perfect healthcare decisions.

2.       Better care outcomes

If patients are well educated about their conditions, there is no doubt they will work on the goals that are aimed in improving their health. For example education on NSAID treatment is a vitally crucial area that patients need to have proper education. This is because NSAIDs are usually sold over the counter and may pose a big risk to the patient when inappropriately used.  Education therefore helps in drug risk management by lowering risks of malpractice when patients have realistic expectations.

Educating patients about drug usage and their side effects can also help motivate patients in reaching their healthcare goals which can in turn improve healthcare outcomes and overall health in a more effective way. Educated patients are more likely to have a better response to their treatment plans due to fewer complications.

3.       Improve patient involvement

When a nurse or a physician communicates during patient education, a patient becomes a member of their care team which makes him or her accountable too. With well-educated patients there is more active approach to healthcare. With proper education, patients can self-manage some elements of their care such as dietary changes, simple exercises and even full lifestyle changes. For sure there are some aspects of care that can be need to be administered by professionals only, but some elements or parts can be managed by a patient relieving burden for doctors and nurses.

4.       Improved healthcare system

Educating patients about their health will with no doubt have a positive impact on whole healthcare organization. Patient education can help reduce the number of unnecessary hospital visits, admissions and phone calls hence saving the time and money for both the health care provider and the patient.

Patient education can also improve patient satisfaction making a patient trust and stick to the services of a certain facility and refer other patients as well.

How to choose patient education materials

After you have accessed your patient’s readiness to learn, needs, concerns, support, preferences and possible hindrances to learning, you have to:

·         Select resources that fit the patient according to his or her literacy level

·         Reach an agreement with the patient about his or her learning objectives

·         Make a plan with the patient and his or her caregiver

The first thing to do before selecting the education materials is accessing the patient’s current knowledge about his or her condition. For example, patients with low health literacy need time to adjust to new health information, make long or short-term lifestyle changes or master new skills.

How to get started

Your patient’s preferences or choices can be the major guide of the choice of education material he or she need. You need to find:

·         How your patient want to learn

·         Focus on the patient’s needs

·         Pay close attention to patient’s concerns

·         Respect your patients limits

·         Organize the information to make comprehension easier

·         Make sure you are ready to adjust the plan based on the health status of your patient and the environmental factors

What are the basic priorities?

With any type of patient education there are key issues which should not be left behind. They include:

·         What the patient need to do and why

·         The date your patient should expect the results

·         Warning signs that your patient should be careful of

·         What should be done in case of a problem

·         The person the patient should reach in case of questions or concerns.

Resource options for patient education

There are many ways in which patient education can be delivered. They include demonstrations, one on one teaching and word pictures or analogies used to explain concepts.

Education tools that you can choose include:

·         Podcasts

·         Props or models

·         Brochures or any other printed materials

·         You Tube videos

·         Posters or charts

·         DVDs or videos

·         Power point presentations

·         Group classes and

·         Trained peer educators

Tips for an effective Patient Education

1.       Use digital patient education materials

Health tech has helped healthcare providers switch from paper to digital. Solutions such as bedside entertainment screens allow the patient to view education details right on bedside. It helps give patients information whenever they need it.

2.       Make sure patients understand the materials well

You may have digital education materials but if the information does reach the patients well, it never do any good. You should therefore consider your patients limitations and strengths such as physical, mental and emotional ability that may affect learning ability.

3.       Find how the patient learns best

What works best for one patient may not work best for other patients. The way a patient learns depends on several factors such as level of literacy, age, culture and patient’s health condition. Therefore, all these factors should be put in consideration when selecting the best patient education materials.

4.       Involve family members

Patients’ friends or family members are very important in improving the effectiveness of patient education material. They have a big influence when they are taught the same exercises and instructions as they improve chances of the patient following instructions.

5.       Engage the patient and choose his or her interests

Telling your patients what to do is not an effective way of patient education. It is therefore important to clarify to them what is in it for them. This can be achieved by using nursing staff to find what is important to every patient. Some may want to know very little about their health while others may be fine with a simple factual checklist