The Teaching and Learning Process of a Patient

Patient Teaching Learning Paper

Change in attitude of the patients suffering from the disease has become a vital part of healthcare management worldwide. A positive behavioral change for preventing one’s illness and avoiding its respective long-term conditions is considered self-care (Greaves & Campbell, 2007). A supportive educational plan for the diabetic patient population is presented in this paper with relevance to three learning theories to improve patient’s self-care and health promotion.

The behavioral problems in the diabetic population include low health literacy, lack of adherence to the required regimen, possibly due to costly medications of lack of support and motivation, and the lifestyle changes essential in the form of physical activity and a healthy diet. Type 2 diabetes is known to be majorly caused by physical inactivity and obesity induced by environmental factors (Wing et al., 2001).

A supportive educational intervention could include in the settings of the discussion room in nurses and qualified doctors. The chairs could be arranged in a manner where face-to-face communication is facilitated, and eye contact is encouraged (Marques et al., 2019). The diabetic guidelines and the relevant regimen would be introduced to the patients to be familiar with the pathophysiology of the disease and treatment with both pharmacological and non-pharmacological types so that the risk of low health literacy could be eliminated. When the care information would be disseminated to the diabetic patients, they would be naturally instigated to take more care of themselves. It could be implied that in the light of the health belief model, the patients’ behaviors towards the illness and their own opinions about the diseases could be modified with the spreading of knowledge about diabetes. Their perceptions would be shaped in this first stage so that the educational intervention for the control of disease and the chances of its success could be amplified.

Another source of information that could help bring behavioral and cognitive changes with the educational intervention is giving knowledge about foot care to diabetic patients. The importance of footrace for diabetic patients could not be underscored since the sugar levels in diabetic patient rises and causes disruptions in the feet nerves leading to a condition called peripheral neuropathy (Bone and Joint, n.a.). This behavioral change would also promote self-care opportunities in the patients, which is another sign that the health belief model would suitably. An important foot care regimen for diabetic patients would help in the positive outcomes in terms of improved patient self-care and development of actions necessary for progressive health behavior.

The information in the educational intervention for the diabetic population would also include key regimen resources in diet and physical exercise. It is preferred that they start with slow exercises and increased their physical strength with aerobic exercise and strength training for five days per week (Ranasinghe et al., 2015). A healthy diet plan should be followed, lowering the amount of sugar intake and increasing natural sugars in fruits. Vegetables should also be kept an important part of the portion keeping an eye on the portion size.

The educational plan could include a 60-minute long session. A post-session evaluation could be conducted after one week where the patients could be assessed about their self-care behaviors. This contact could be made telephonically to answer any queries about the plan or concerns about self-care for diabetes. This would initiate more interest and motivation in the patients for self-management of the disease so that improvement in health promotion could be witnessed.

Taking the example from the study conducted by Marques et al. (2019), it could be expected that behavioral changes in self-care are possible in the form of diet intake (taking more fruits and vegetables), following instructions about the food and healthy diet, low intake of calories and fatty foods, daily exercise for at least 30 minutes., self-examination of foot and glycemia levels, and taking the prescribed medication regularly. The cognitive changes include the desire to stick to the educational plans and interventional strategies with adherence to the control parameters. The increase in desire would be the main source in self-care of diabetic patients since they could be constantly encouraged by the telephonic calls to re-evaluate their adherence patterns, checking if they are doing fine, examining if their health is being stable and asking them to inquire about any issue they find intricate. Constant contact would be a motivational factor that would support them in self-care practices.