Patient Education: Acute Care Teaching Success Stories

[Tait, MSN, RN]

So my main goal in life is to go into patient education and hopefully, someday, make a dramatic change to the way patients are educated outside of the hospital.

Well at this time, I am practicing on my patients

This week I had an 88 y/o patient with CHF. Now this is the second patient I have had who didn't realize that the swelling in their ankles was related to their heart, despite years of being on Lasix and other such heart medications.

With both of these patients I took about ten minutes and described how the heart pumps, how the fluid works, and why they get edema. I also have incorporated afib and other such heart r/t items, into this teaching. Heck this week I even explain to a patient what ejection fraction was and how that effected his edema as well.

I was interested when my patient said "I have all of these papers at home, about CHF and all the things you explained, but not one explained them like you just did. I understand how it works now".

Now granted I understand everyone learns different, and I may have just happened upon this mans method of learning, but I have had so many patients like this one.

The other CHF patient I explained this too was reported to me from the ER as "pt is non-compliant and believes her ankle edema is completely unrelated to her heart". Well when she got to the floor I took about five minutes, with her and her daughter and explained, as I would to my most aged of Great Aunts, exactly how it worked. I saw the lightbulb turn on in her eyes. She understood! She plainly said "I never had a clue they were related!"

I have more to say on this subject, but at this time I am looking for stories of success in educating a patient on something in the acute care setting. Be it a new diagnosis, an old diagnosis that they just didn't seem to get or any other story about SUCCESS.

Tait

[country mom]

I have to say that your experience is quite common. As a patient educator, I find my biggest challenges are actually providers themselves, who hand patients a pamphlet or sheet of paper and expect that to be the summation of the patient's education. I almost kicked a sales rep out of my office last week when she said that patients with Type 2 diabetes where "just lazy". Instead, I took a few minutes to offer her some information to the contrary. If you want to be a patient educator, you will also need to be a staff educator in order to make an environment where your patients can succeed. I am glad that you found inspiration in that moment of teaching. Surely, your patient will be that much better for it, and her quality of life improved.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

Thank you for responding as someone in the actual education field, very much appreciated.

I have been working on many ideas I have for new ways to teach concepts. One for a-fib involving sassy grandmas at a water aerobics class in a pool of jello!

I have always been a natural teacher, however when I went into the orthopedic surgeon for my back and was handed three prescriptions was when the flame on the burner really turned up.

I was given scripts for the following:

Tizandine 4mg

Take one tablet by mouth every twelve hours.

Tramadol 50mg

Take one tablet by mouth every 4 to 6 hours as needed for pain.

Diclofenac 75mg

Take one tablet by mouth twice daily after meals.

Now I have DDD and know damn well I don't need to take scheduled pain meds, however I was appalled that the scripts weren't all written "as needed for mild pain/moderate pain/or muscle spasms" depending on which med. Also these were pre-programmed computerized scripts, so it could easily be changed to make sure the patients all know these are PRN. And we wonder why we have patients addicted to prescription narcs and meds.

I wonder how often docs even bother to explain how to take them.

Tait