Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Explore visual methods for delivering patient education
- Explore audio methods for delivering patient education
- Discuss technology utilized in patient education
- Summarize methods of educating patients with a different language
Patient education can empower a patient to make more informed health-care-related choices and, through those choices, improve or maintain their quality of life. Patient education should be a well-thought-out and planned encounter, not an afterthought of the nurse-patient encounter. Providing quality patient education requires nurses to understand the content they are teaching and understand how to teach it for the best results.
Patient teaching requires clear communication and often takes time to achieve the optimal level of patient knowledge. The time devoted to patient education includes preparation and implementation of the education plan. Nurses can use education templates to assist with typical or recurring patient education needs. For example, if a nurse works on a stroke care floor, the patients and caregivers will need to understand follow-up care for strokes. This stroke education can be structured so that each patient receives the same teaching points, and the nurse can individualize teaching on a patient-by-patient basis, such as using the patient’s native language. This allows for the most important educational points to be covered within the template and individual needs to be met through additional individualized content.
Audio/Visual Methods
A visual method of communication involves patient education material that has a visual component, such as posters, graphics, brochures, handouts, and maps. Educational materials that require the patient to read content should be written at or below a sixth-grade reading comprehension level (Baumann et al., 2023). Visual education materials are convenient for the educator and can serve as reinforcement of face-to-face education.
An audio method of communication involves patient education material that has an audio component, such as videos, audio recordings of patient education materials, musical or lyrical lessons, and informational podcasts. Audio patient education options are convenient for those with visual impairments or an inability to read. Audio methods of patient education materials need to be presented in a logical format that clearly identifies the purpose of the educational material and does not distract from the needed patient information (Shoemaker et al., 2020).
Kinesthetic Methods
Many patient education situations require patients to learn a skill or maneuver that is specific to their health issue. For example, a postoperative patient will require education on how to change a wound dressing. The most effective education for this type of skill is hands-on learning, also known as kinesthetic learning. A patient who can perform a skill with the supervision of a nurse will have more confidence and understanding of the skill and therefore will perform the skill as prescribed instead of improvising. The nurse will demonstrate the skill for the patient, then require the patient to return-demonstrate the same skill to prove their understanding, which is a learning evaluation called the teach-back method. This provides practice for the patient, and an opportunity for the nurse to identify any problems with the technique used to perform the skill.
Nurses can allow a patient to return-demonstrate skills in almost any nursing setting, including hospitals, clinics, home-care settings, and long-term care facilities. The return-demonstration technique can also be used to educate a caregiver on the proper way to perform caregiving tasks when the patient is home. Some health facilities have patient learning centers where learning, practicing, and demonstrating health-related skills allows patients and their families to become instrumental in their own care.
Technology
Technology and the internet have increased access to health-care information for patients. It is extremely important for nurses to be familiar with how to identify a reliable information source and how to refer patients to these expert sources of information. Clarifying reputable sources prevents misconceptions and avoids delays in treatments caused by patients attempting to self-treat through internet research.
There are some drawbacks regarding technology, including that some patients, especially older adult patients, may not have access to technology or the internet, or they have a knowledge deficit regarding how to use technology or access information on the internet (Stewart, 2020). The nurse should assess both the patient’s ability to use technology and their access to it before recommending a technology-focused health-promotion modality.
The provision of health-care services remotely through a telecommunications device like a computer or phone is called telehealth. Telehealth services have been able to provide patients with a quality of care for many health conditions similar to what they would receive in face-to-face encounters with providers. Telehealth and has also been found to provide some cost savings to both the patient and the provider (Shaver, 2022). Telehealth services include virtual visits, provider-patient conversations, online portals with patient results, sending or receiving messages from providers, appointment scheduling, or prescription requests (Watson, 2020).
The telehealth service that enhances patient self-care management and assists with the patient awareness, self-management of chronic diseases, early detection of acute exacerbations, reduces emergency hospital admissions, and provides more frequent interactions with health-care providers is called telemonitoring (Chow et al., 2023). Patient education is not the only objective of this type of telemonitoring program; it also provides the patient with more opportunity to increase awareness of their own disease process. The patient can then participate in managing their own health goals.
Patients Who Speak a Different Language
Patients may have difficulty understanding patient education terms if English is not their native language. Providing patient education in the person’s first language will facilitate more comprehension and understanding. Many resources can be found that are premade in common non-English languages like Spanish, French, German, or Arabic.
It is important to provide patients with an interpreter when they do not speak the same language as the health-care provider. It is not adequate to use a lay person as an interpreter because they may not have the health-care knowledge to interpret conversations correctly to the patient. The patient cannot legally consent if the family interprets for them. When a face-to-face interpreter is not available, nurses can easily access language lines, telephone interpretation services, or video interpreter services, a service offered by every accredited health-care facility.
Evaluation of Patient Learning
After completing any intervention, nurses are required to complete an evaluation of the intervention. Evaluation of learning helps the nurse identify whether the patient has any further learning needs or if the education has been effective. The effectiveness of patient education can be evaluated by asking the patient questions to gauge their understanding of the topic, having the patient demonstrate something that they just learned, or having them explain the topic back. The teach-back method is when the learner is required to teach the content back to the educator to demonstrate understanding of the topic. The teach-back method is a relatively quick and accurate way to determine if there are any misunderstandings of the material. Depending on the education setting, a quiz about the topic could be completed by the patient and graded by the educator.
The evaluation stage of patient education is very important because it gives the nurse the opportunity to clarify misunderstandings, re-explain concepts, or even offer alternate education modalities if the patient is having trouble understanding the concept. This step is often overlooked in practice and causes the patients to be released or discharged without the minimum knowledge of how to maintain the plan of care that has been designed for them. It is common for a patient to be labeled as nonadherent (not following provider’s orders) when instead they did not actually understand what they were supposed to be doing or how to carry out the task.
The nurse can evaluate a patient’s learning by asking them to repeat key facts, quizzing the patient, or asking for a return demonstration of a skill. Once the patient has demonstrated increased knowledge of the subject, the nurse must document that the education session has occurred. Patient education documentation should include the topic of the patient education session, the patient’s learning style, the learning goals, a summary of the information or skills taught, the teaching methods used, and an evaluation of the learning (EuroMedInfo, n.d.).