Help with patient teaching

Maybe a local physician has some pamphlets he or she would share with you. They are usually happy to help with such things.

Find your local diabetic education resource. Maybe the local hospital. I did an inservice on oral hypoglycmics and pt education related to that for my job using a magazine article from rn magazine. my hospital has a diabeties ed dept or you can go to the diabetes association website maybe find some stuff there.

look on the american diabetes web site diabetes.org

I've been a patient educator for 48 years (how can a nurse not be that?), and taught childbirth education for 35 years. There are priorities gleaned from my teaching experience and education I'd like to share with you, that have nothing to do with what pamphlets or visual aids are best to use(although they are important reenforcements of learning).

First of all, chat with your patient for about 5 minutes about how he/she feels about diabetes, and having it. Your objective is to learn what information they already learned, if it was correct, and what factors may interfere with learning, such as denial, disgust, or intelligence deficit. Then direct your words away from those that bring up negativity (like "shot" or "needlestick". Too much information can also decrease retention and attention, so you may have to decide how many sessions are needed.

Remeber that "familiarity breeds contempt", and get that to work by repeating essential facts, like the pancreas's function, insulin production, food allowances, activity (I avoid the "e" for exercise word with those who haven't made it an essential part of their lives). 1:1 teaching gives that opportunity, which isn't there when teaching a class.

Then, to encourage respect for their body's integrity, tell them that the body works perfectly, whether in health or disease, to balance itself (remember homeostasis?). It's the belief in that, which will get their attention and cooperation/compliance. It's very important to ask what that information means to them (like if they do nothing to comply with needed therapy, the body will do it, itself....) The best response is, "I didn't know that!" Recognizing knowledge deficits stimulates a "need to know".

It's good to remember that some people are more likely to learn from visual stimuli, and others have great auditory skills (personally I'm a visual learner). See if you can determine by asking about facts demonstrated with a visual, like a syringe being filled and used, how that is for them. If instead they retain more information from reading the printed information in a pamphlet, and can repeat what you said, then that's what works for them. (Although I have to share the worst job of teaching I've ever seen, was a w/c bound patient who was blind, having been given a pamphlet by the HH nurse who was there before I did a home visit. He lived alone in a house with a pool immedeiately outside sliding glass doors, and had no family to read it to him.......) He was diabetic.

It's really important after each point taught, to review it and get responses to review questions, after dealing with their questions. Repetition, repetition, repetition is how we retain info. Give positive feedback when they get it!

Always summarize what has been taught. You'd be amazed how many students zone out at certain times - possibly the times when information about something they dread is given...... It is a well known and researched fact that people retain 20% of what they hear, 40% of what they hear and see, and 80% of what they hear, see, and do.

I wish you good fortune with your project, and the enjoyment of knowing you made a difference for those you teach.

I use WEB MD a lot or I go to the site especially for that illness such as the Diabetic Association. I print out the info, highlight the areas that are most important and go over it with the pt. I then attach a copy of what I gave them to the care plan so others will know what was given to them.