This document discusses patient teaching and health education. It emphasizes that health education is an essential nursing responsibility aimed at promoting health. It also outlines factors to consider for learning readiness including physical, emotional, and experiential readiness. Finally, it recommends various teaching strategies such as lecture, discussion, demonstration, and use of teaching aids with reinforcement and documentation of the teaching.

1. Patient Teaching
and
Health Education
Berndel Magamay, BSN, RN

2. Health Education
• An essential component of nursing
care
• Directed toward promotion,
maintenance, and restoration of
health and toward adaptation to the
residual effects of illness

3. LEARNING READINESS

4. 1 • Assist the patient in physical
readiness to learn
• Try to alleviate physical distress that
may distract the patient's attention
and prevent effective learning

5. • Assess and promote the patient's
2 emotional readiness to learn
• Motivation to learn depends on:
• Acceptance of the illness or that illness
is a threat
• Recognition of the need to learn
• Values related to social and cultural
background
• Therapeutic regimen compatible with
the patient's lifestyle

6. • Promote motivation to learn:
• Create a warm, accepting, positive
atmosphere
• Encourage the patient to participate in
the establishment of acceptable,
realistic, and attainable learning goals
• Provide constructive feedback about
progress

7. • Assess and promote the patient's
3 experiential readiness to learn.
• Determine the following:
• what experiences the patient has had
with health and illness
• what success or failure the patient has
had with learning
• what basic knowledge the patient has
on related topics

8. • Provide the patient with prerequisite
knowledge necessary to begin the
learning process

9. TEACHING STRATEGIES

10. • Patient education can occur at any
time and in any setting
• Consider the following:
• How conducive the environment is to
learning?
• How much time you are able to
schedule?
• What other family members can attend
the teaching session?

11. • Use a variety of techniques that are
appropriate to meet the needs of
each individual

12. Lecture or Explanation
• Should include discussion or a
question-and-answer session

13. Group Discussion
• Effective for individuals with similar
needs
• Participants commonly gain support,
assistance, and encouragement
from other members

14. Demonstration and
Practice
• Should be used when skills need to
be learned
• Ample time should be allowed for
practice and return demonstration

15. Teaching aids
• Books, pamphlets, pictures, slides,
videos, tapes, and models
• Should serve as supplements to
verbal teaching
• Can be obtained from government
agencies, nonprofit groups, various
internet health web sites,
pharmaceutical and insurance
companies

16. Reinforcement and
follow-up sessions
• Offer time for evaluation and
additional teaching, if necessary
• Can greatly increase the
effectiveness of teaching

17. Documentation
• Document patient teaching:
• What was taught?
• How the patient responded?
• Use standardized patient teaching
checklists if available