Making nurses into better patient educators: Communication is key

When we think of nurses, we tend to think of compassionate caregivers, not teachers. Most of us think that health care and education are two separate entities, but in today’s fast-changing world, the line between those worlds is becoming increasingly blurred. As individuals become more responsible for their own health care, they will increasingly turn to nurses for health education.

Some nurses will tell you that the nursing profession has always been about teaching patients. “All nurses are patient educators,” says Lesley Hunt, RN, MSN, CCM, a nurse with UnitedHealthcare who specializes in patient case management in privately run Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as a University of Phoenix adjunct instructor. “Teaching patients is at least fifty percent of our job.”

Hunt makes patient education a central part of all the nursing classes she teaches at University of Phoenix. She instructs her nursing students on how to create patient education brochures, how to develop public presentations on health topics, and how to better communicate with patients of all education levels. “I am pretty passionate about patient education,” says Hunt. “It’s something I include in all my nursing classes.”

“In my hospital experience, nurses were the health care professionals who translated what the physician just said to the patient,” says Gwen Wodiuk, RN, MSN, FNP and manager of the nursing program at University of Phoenix’s Phoenix, Ariz. campus. “The public sees nurses as trustworthy and reliable. I think this puts nurses in a good position to do teaching about the areas of knowledge they have which pertains to patients and their families.”

A recent report from the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) on the future of nursing has called for an increased role of the nurse in public health education, especially as the heath care system becomes more focused on wellness and illness prevention. According to the IOM, as the 21st-century health care system transforms itself, so too will the nursing profession, and that will include a greater emphasis on patient education, especially technology-based educational platforms (Institute of Medicine, 2010).

Carol Healey, RN is a director of patient education for a private hospital system. A portion of her work focuses on leveraging information technology to improve patient education materials and instruction. “We work closely with IT to adapt patient education materials available through Logicare,” says Healey. “Logicare is an online system for housing patient education materials, mainly in text-based format. The nurses are able to pull off the materials [for their patients] on an as-needed basis, such as when providing new medication.” In addition, Healey’s employer is currently in the process of developing a patient-centered IT platform, which patients themselves can use to view educational materials on-demand at the bedside. “This new system is interactive,” she says. “RNs will be able to assign education modules to patients with new conditions or who need refresher courses on specific health-related content.”

Healey goes on to say that nurses need to grasp the importance of patient education while still in nursing school, since it will become an integral part of their responsibilities on the job. “Patient education needs to be an integral part of the nursing education system, since patient teaching is a critical focus for nursing care, and has been demonstrated to improve patient compliance and decrease hospital readmissions,” she says. “RNs who are uncomfortable with teaching should practice teaching with their peers and friends/family members and seek the assistance of the educators on their staffs.”

Healey emphasizes that patients also have a responsibility to educate themselves about their health conditions, and encourages them to reach out to nurses to accomplish this. “Patients need to learn whatever is necessary to provide safe self-care on discharge [from the hospital],” she says. “Nurse-driven clinics that can provide this information have become increasingly needed.” In addition, Healey believes that the explosion of wireless Web-enabled devices like iPads® and smart phones also provide an opportunity to improve patient education via technology. “Linking to these kinds of devices, emailing information, or burning CD-ROMs would be creative methods by which we can improve patient access to health information that will increase their ability to manage their own care more effectively.”

By working in partnership with patients and leveraging all available means of communication, nurses can serve as the key educators of their patients. “If we don’t educate our patients, we can’t expect them to get healthier,” says Lesley Hunt. “Nursing is education.”

References:

Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.