Patient Education Learning Domains

Chapter 5: Patient Education to Promote Health

• This chapter discusses patient education in the context of pharmacology for nurses.
• The learning objectives focus on differentiating learning domains (cognitive, affective, psychomotor), identifying learning principles, and describing essential elements of patient education related to medications.
• A nurse's role in promoting patient responsibility for well-being and adherence to treatment is crucial.
• The types of information to discuss with patients and significant others are highlighted.

Three Domains of Learning

• Cognitive Domain: Learning and storing knowledge.
• Affective Domain: Involves feelings, needs, values, and opinions.
• Psychomotor Domain: Learning new skills.

Audience Response Question 1

• A patient's statement about learning colostomy care indicates the psychomotor domain of learning.

Principles of Teaching and Learning

• Focus the learning: Repeat information to master concepts, provide a quiet and well-lit environment, and encourage active participation.
• Consider learning styles: Adapt teaching methods to various learning styles (using multiple media like pamphlets, videos, models, etc.). Adapt to the patient's current education level.
• Organizing teaching sessions and materials: Use objectives, outlines, allowing time for practice and questions, and review material.
• Motivate the patient to learn: Provide positive feedback and determine if more teaching is needed based on patient outcomes.
• Determine the patient's readiness to learn: The patient's basic needs must be met, and teaching should be relevant to the patient's current knowledge level.
• Space the content: Stagger the presentation of material.
• Use repetition to enhance learning: Repeating crucial information improves learning.
• Incorporate cultural and ethnic diversity: Healthcare providers should understand and adapt to different cultures within patient populations.
• Teach appropriate use of the Internet: Patients commonly use the internet for their health information.
• Encourage adherence: Reinforcement is effective.
• Use relevant content: Make content relevant to the patient.
• Communicate goals and expectations: Clearly communicate therapeutic goals.

Learning, Content, Repetition, and Education Level

• Readiness to learn: The patient's basic needs must be met before learning, and the learning should build upon previous knowledge.
• Make the content relevant: Content must relate to the person.
• Spacing the content: Stagger the material for presentation.
• Use repetition to enhance learning: Repetition is effective for absorbing information.
• Consider education level: Teaching should be adapted to the patient's education level.

Principles of Learning: Adult Education

• Adults need to first understand why they must learn something, and the content should build upon previous knowledge and desired information.
• An assessment of the patient's current awareness and desired information is essential.
• Creating relevant content is necessary for their learning.

Principles of Learning: Older Adults

• Assessment of sensory acuity (vision, hearing), memory, and motor skills is essential.
• Concerns about cost and the balance between treatment and quality of life should be addressed.
• Presentation pace should be slowed down for proper understanding.

Principles of Learning: Fear and Anxiety

• Provide information in small increments to reduce anxiety.
• Anticipate times when teaching may be difficult and provide flexibility.
• Allow time for questions and review.
• Praise efforts and positive aspects.

Cultural and Ethnic Diversity

• Communication is crucial to understanding individuals and their cultural background.
• Members of the healthcare team must ascertain the patient's beliefs about illness.
• Adapt educational materials and approaches to reflect patient needs.

Use of the Internet

• The internet is a common source of healthcare information.
• Its quality varies widely and nurses must validate information and maintain a partnership to ensure proper information.

Adherence

• Patients have the right to make decisions affecting their life choices
• Positive reinforcement is critical for patient success.
• Compliance depends on multiple patient-related variables concerning beliefs, perceptions, lifestyles, illness acceptance/denial, and stress.
• Factors like comprehension, multiple physicians, costs, and expectations greatly affect compliance.

Strategies to Increase Adherence

• Challenges of nursing include poor adherence, which increase unnecessary costs.
• Tools like Case Management Adherence Guidelines help identify patients at risk.
• Ethnography can help observe how patients adhere to instructions at home.

Relevant Content

• Patient learning requires relevant information.
• Start with simple and achievable goals to build confidence.

Goals and Expectations of Therapy

• The goal is to assist patients to achieve the greatest degree of control possible regarding their treatment.
• Providing support and encouragement, assisting in exploring treatment options instead of giving up is important.
• Needs and expectations constantly change.
• Shared input into goals and outcomes is essential.
• Keep record of information needed to evaluate prescribed therapy.
• Convey the information clearly and thoroughly, ensuring patients understand.
• Patients should be encouraged to contact their healthcare providers to gain more information.
• Summarize unmet needs for documentation in patient records.

Audience Response Questions 2 & 3

• These questions provide examples of possible scenarios and appropriate actions for nurse-patient interactions, such as how to handle concerns for fatigue, pain or a difficult patient experience to support patient success.
• Option c for Question 3 emphasizes segmenting teaching content, allowing for better learning. Option d in Question 2 is the only solution which considers the patient's needs and circumstances in a mindful manner.

Audience Response Question 4

• The best method for teaching patients about prescribed drugs is using verbal explanations and providing drug summary sheets.
• This approach allows for detailed explanations and a comprehensive overview.

Audience Response Question 5

• The best approach for nurses in large urban hospitals is to develop a personalized treatment plan based on each patient's specific cultural dynamics and needs.