Patient Education and home health

[Fran London]

I am writing a series of articles for home health care nurses on patient and family education. (I am the author of the book "No Time to Teach? A Nurse's Guide to Patient and Family Education")

What problems do you run into while teaching patients? Can you give me examples, anecdotes, of what you had to deal with?

[Ellen]

I would be happy to respond please send me your e-mail address. Most of my patients are elderly and teaching them can be a real challenge and then there are the funny stories too. So drop me a line with your e-mail address. Mine is [email protected].

[Mijourney]

Hi,

I don't have any anecdotes I want to offer. But, I will tell you of major challenges with patient education that I frequently encounter in home health:

1. Patient is not willing or able to participate as desired in patient education due to physical or mental disabilities or discomfort of changing something in comfortable and familiar surroundings; no family or friend support.

2. Family is not willing or able to participate, because they are not accessible for home care; they do not comprehend importance of their role in home care and the adjustments needed to maximize the quality of life for the client/patient; they may only care about certain aspects regarding the client/patient (e.g. what impact would the death of the client/patient have on the family if they lost the income from his/her check).