Patient Education Nurses and Educational

Patient Education

Nurses and educational requirements and patient requests -- For most of history, medical care has been the purview of a select few who held all the information and were even quite reluctant to share it with the individual patient. That seemed to change after World War II, when advances in programs to teach patients increased, particularly those that advocate preventative medicine, post-surgical or procedure care, and the level and expectation of patients. In fact, one of the interesting changes in popular culture that certainly has a profound effect upon educational requirements and patient information is that of the number and amount of medical shows in the popular media and motion pictures. On the positive side, individuals are being exposed to more medical terms, more sophisticated procedures, diagnostic techniques, etc. (e.g. E.R., House, etc.). On the downside, many patients now think that medical science moves much quicker and has more sophisticated teams and techniques than are universally available -- in a 50 minute television show, one rarely sees the issues with insurance or waiting rooms. Because of this, litigation, insurance, and patient responsibility, though, the contemporary nurse should document all requests for information to ensure that the patient is being given the correct and proper amount of feedback and information (Falvo, 2004).

Part 2 -- Nurses identifying and documenting educational requirements and requests of patients -- The modern nurse has a number of tools at their disposal within the context of the exam, the patient's chart, advocacy, and client conversation. Certainly, any issue that surrounds a patient's need for education or advocacy should be clearly documented within the chart -- noted and/or followed up with discussion with the Charge Nurse and physician dealing with the case. In all cases, there is also a legal requirement that patients are presented information in such a manner that they clearly understand the ramifications of procedures, risks associated with procedures or medication, and the specifics of tests that may be ordered. Nurses are part of a team that is driven by economic reality (e.g. limited financial resources in an era of managed care), and therefore, not only must they balance the educational needs of the patient with specific job and performance requirements, they must also work towards the goal of never interacting with patients in a vacuum. It is this balance in providing information adequately, but also allowing patient's the need to be responsible for their own health as well, that challenges the contemporary nurse (Rankin, et al., 2005).

Part 3 -- Nurses and formal and informal education sessions -- In many ways, the situation with current healthcare is actually advantageous to the goal of increasing nurse-patient communication. Physicians are so busy and must manage so many patients, that it is more often the nurse that sees the patient more, has the opportunity to educate and explain in both formal and informal situations. Informally, each time the nurse interacts with the patient they can provide information; formally, training on specific medications, or procedures; or explaining to the family situations about upcoming tests, operations, or expectations, can be most valuable. Formal educational opportunities may also present themselves in groups (seminars for heart or kidney patients for example) that allow specific sets of information to be disseminated to larger groups for efficiency, human or other resource purposes, and to allow patients to have a greater sense of a peer or support group for their specific need (Falvo).

Part 4- Identify appropriate educational resources. There are actually quite a number of additional educational resources available for patients:

Hospital staff and seminars; specialists, nurse or practitioner experts

Governmental agencies that sponsor seminars provide written information (e.g. Department of Health).

Private agencies that provide written information, sponsor seminars, and advocate education (e.g. American Heart Association, Lung Association, etc.).

Websites from public and private organizations, including DHSS, etc.

Number of individual websites devoted to care, information, and even ongoing webinar training (Mayo Clinic, WebMD, etc.)

Pharmaceutical sites

Watchdog agencies, consumer protection groups

Part 5 -- Outline on educational session like Cardiac Rehab

Overview: Cardiac disorders are the leading cause of death and injury in the developed world. In the United States alone, over 14 million people suffer from cardiac disease, so it is important that we help patients who have undergone any type of cardiac procedure become more informed about ways they can improve their overall health, support their heart health, and live a long and productive life and interact with family and loved ones. There are a number of topics with which we must review during this session: