Teaching on the Cognitive Learning

¶ … Teaching on the Cognitive Learning of Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of individual and group teaching on the cognitive learning of adult kidney transplant recipients on an inpatient transplant unit.

Kidney transplant recipients have an abundance of learning needs after receiving their transplants. Patient education is a crucial aspect of the transplant nurse's role. Transplant recipients must learn follow-up instructions, signs of rejection and infection, medications and their side effects, urine testing procedures, and dietary and lifestyle modifications in order to ensure transplant viability and increased quality of life. It is important that the most effective method is used to teach this critical information. Patient education is widely documented in the literature, however little is known about the effects of individual and group teaching on the cognitive learning of adult kidney transplant recipients.

Design. A true experimental design.

Methods. The research will take place in a large east coast teaching hospital in the adult kidney transplant unit. A total of 100 participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental individual teaching sessions or the control group that will attend group teaching sessions. Each subject in both groups will take the Evaluation of Transplant Teaching Test prior to the onset of the study and again 48 hours prior to discharge from the hospital. The experimental and control groups will receive the same postoperative teaching using verbal, visual, and written literature by an RN. The experimental group will attend scheduled group teaching sessions in the patients' solarium. A paired t-test will be used to analyze the collected data. The results of the study will be statistically significant at the.05 level.

Results. The findings will indicate there will be an increase in cognitive learning from individual patient teaching compared to group teaching in postoperative adult kidney transplant recipients.

Conclusion. Individual patient teaching in adult postoperative kidney transplant recipient patients results in increased cognitive learning.

Relevance to clinical practice. As indicated by the results of this study, individual patient teaching in the postoperative adult kidney transplant patient is superior to group teaching in the adult kidney transplant patient. The patient will be able to maximize organ vitality and improve overall quality of life.

CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Problem Statement

Definition of Terms

Inclusion Criteria

Assumptions

Significance of Study