Adherence challenge: W...

It’s hard enough for patients to take their medicine correctly at home. But it’s even more important to address this when the patient is taking oral chemotherapy, because effectiveness and safety depend on proper administration and handling of these medications. Once again,...

Another reason to evalu...

Yesterday I attended a Grand Rounds on sickle cell presented by Dr. Dorothea Douglas. She told a story first shared by Dr. Graham Sergeant, a field leader who studied sickle cell in Jamaica. Apparently, he cared for a couple who were each carriers of the disease. He told them that...

Blinded by technology? ...

I just leaned about a beautifully illustrated app available for the iPad. It’s designed to educate the lay patient about medical problems treatable with surgery. I’m not going to tell you which one I’m talking about because I’m not writing a review of the app itself. I’m...

Does how you view your ...

It puzzles me that not every health care provider is as enthusiastic about patient and family education as I am. Why isn’t is obvious to all that, after saving lives, our most important service is patient education? So I asked. I listened. I thought. I now have a theory: How...

“No Time to Teach...

Yes, it’s official. The review of No Time to Teach in the current issue of the Journal for Nurses in Staff Development – JNSD is out — and “No Time to Teach is great for the bedside nurse who also has no time to read.” The reviewer, Judy McDaniel, MSN, RN,...

Helping colleagues unde...

Despite the fact functional health literacy has been discussed in the professional literature for quite some time, there are health care providers who just don’t get it. They don’t get that low health literacy exists. They don’t get the impact it has on health...

Nurses can change the w...

Pfizer surveyed 1,600 nurses in 8 countries and found most nurses want more time to do patient education, so they can improve health outcomes. 95% of nurses surveyed want to use their skills and time to educate individuals about the threat and prevention of non-communicable diseases...

Is there an app for tha...

Suddenly, everyone’s talking about patient education apps. You can show the anatomy. Describe the surgery. Sit the patient down with a video. “We should use iPads to teach patients!” “Every doctor should carry an iPad!” “We need to make an app!” So...

The real scoop on editi...

Health care providers are now regularly looking at the reading levels of the handouts we give patients and families. Finally, we are recognizing functional health literacy as an issue we need to address if we are to improve health outcomes. If patients don’t understand our instructions,...

No time to teach? Or n...

In 2009, Turner et al. described pediatricians’ self-reported experiences with health literacy, use of basic and enhanced communication techniques, and perceived barriers to effective communication during office visits. 81% of the 1605 pediatricians were aware that in the previous...